Google published Notes as an experiment on November 15, 2023, which is essentially a global commenting system that can appear in search results, in Discover, and now while browsing a webpage via “SGE while browsing.” It allows anyone participating in the experiment to post a note for a specific URL and read notes from other users. Notes can contain text, a background image, you can customize the design slightly, etc. And after you post a note, you can view impressions and likes through your profile.
I enabled Notes in Search Labs on launch day and posted several notes along the way. And I’ve also been watching the feature closely to see how other people on the internet are using it.
My goal today is not to cover the feature in detail. Instead, let me explain how to find it Notes *for your website or content*. And some of those notes could provide insights into how people feel about your content, user experience, ad situation, and more. I’ve already explained that hearing real feedback from real people can be extremely powerful for website owners, and that it’s just another mechanism for understanding user satisfaction.
It’s also important to note (pun intended) that Google recently expanded notes to “SGE while surfing” and to the URL bar in iOS. That’s what notes are like much more visible Now while surfing the internet. These changes made perfect sense because who would add a note? BEFORE Read an article or consume a piece of content? Now you can do this while reading an article or viewing a webpage.
Here’s my tweet after noticing the Notes expansion:
Can notes be indexed and ranked in search? Yes, they can.
First, notes can be indexed by Google and rank in search results. So if someone leaves a helpful note about your content, it definitely has a chance of ranking in the SERPs.
I currently see about 290,000 notes indexed. Also, there seems to be another directory where you can search for notes. I’m not sure when this changed, but a reader recently brought the new directory to my attention.
Here are the two site queries you can check for indexed notes:
And the subdomain that contains these notes will rank for a range of searches. Based on SEMrush data, I now see subdomain ranking for around 15,000 queries. And Ahrefs delivers about 29,000 queries.
Security and quality of notes:
It’s also important to understand that Google may filter or reject Keep based on an anti-abuse system (which includes both algorithmic protections and human moderation). You can also report notes if they are offensive and constitute a violation Google’s Notes policy. Just because someone can post a note doesn’t mean Google will accept that note and then index it.
To find notes for your website or URL:
Because Google Keep indexes, the easiest way to find notes for a specific website is through a website query. When you combine a website query with the domain name, Google returns notes associated with that website.
For example, I see about 1,650 notes for reddit.com that contain image results based on those notes. And remember to check in both directions for finding notes that I listed earlier in this blog post.
And to get more specific, you can paste a specific URL of your website to display notes for that content (e.g. an article, a blog post, etc.).
And I see almost 700 notes for genius.com with a user asking for the text in the note itself! You never know what you will find in a note. 🙂 🙂
And if you are only interested in finding notes on a specific topic, you can simply enter that topic through the site query. You can then view notes on various websites related to that particular topic. And this subject could be an entity like a person, a team, a movie, etc.
Notes, feedback and another indicator of user satisfaction:
After extensively researching Notes since its launch, I have found a few articles that have spawned a number of Notes. As you can imagine, people post notes when they are passionate about something. But more than that, people will definitely tell you if they felt cheated by visiting your content. For example, clickbait articles, clickbait headlines, an extremely aggressive ad situation, performance issues, and more.
Hearing from real people with real feedback can indicate larger quality issues. And remember: “Quality” is more than just content. As Google’s John Mueller explained, it’s about content quality, UX issues, on-page ads, the way things are presented, and more.
So yes, you should conduct an official user study if possible. They are incredibly powerful and can be eye-opening for website owners. For more information, see my case study on conducting user studies for major core updates. But don’t overlook user comments or Google Notes, which can sometimes give you important clues too.
For example, here are some examples that cover topics that website owners should pay attention to. We know that with Navboost, Google uses user engagement signals to influence rankings. So if you notice any UX barriers, content quality issues, etc., I would address those.
Pay attention to Google’s global comment system.
I understand that not all notes will be of great value, but some could be extremely valuable in understanding specific “quality” issues on your site. If Google continues the Notes experiment and finally rolls it out to all users, Notes could be a global commenting system available on the most visible parts of the web (including Search, Discover, and “SGE while browsing”). And remember, these notes can be indexed and rank in the SERPs. So I would keep Notes in mind for your brand, websites, authors and content.
GG