Imagine this, business owner: what if you could have an icon next to your company's title when someone Googles you that shouts: “ This is a sustainable business!”, or “This is an all organic restaurant!” Would that make you proud? For those of you who aren’t quite there, would this give you an incentive to go even deeper with the responsibility of your practice? On the flip side, what if the Google results for your restaurant shout "This place failed their health inspection!" Would that give you an incentive to clean up your place in order to stay in business?

We recently got word about a new plug in/download, Palore.com, that allows you to receive more content with your search results via small icons. Palore provides icons next to your search engine results that indicate certain third party ratings including Fair Trade, green, wifi, Kosher, handicap access… The benefit is that you can evaluate a place before visiting it. But, does this take the romance out of happenstance?

For the most part, I am indifferent about whether or not I like having access to this much information. I think overall the Palore plug-in is a positive service for business owners. It allows them to advertise responsible/ sustainable activity within their business practice. It also reveals to us consumers what businesses are doing unsustainable and unhealthy things, i.e. failing health inspections. As of yesterday, this information was sometimes hard to get, as was positive information difficult to evaluate and judge.

As pointed out by Greg Sterling, a well-known web reviewer, this opportunity is “branding in the context of search results, which is right now not otherwise available”. Palore results do not change the order of your search results, but it does allow a business to stand out!

Currently, the beta version is up and running. This version is only available for Internet Explorer users but Firefox will soon be added. When the alpha site launches, it should operate with most web browsers. Additionally, the service is currently available for local searches only, yet the concept is applicable nationwide if not worldwide. Palore works with Yahoo Local, Google maps, Windows Live Local, and AOL local. Try it out, see if you like to learn that much information about a place before seeing it, and test the claims!

Screenwerk: Palore Adding Content Layers to (Local) Search
Palore: Green Business