Google recently announced that they will change their Search Engine Results Page (SERP) yet again this week with what they are branding as “Knowledge Graph”. On their Inside Search page they stated that they are “rolling this feature out to google.com users over the next few days.” But the real question isn’t when it is coming, but why is it coming. I have a few thoughts (as always).
The basic concept of the “knowledge Graph” is that it is a collection of other known data about your thing, person or place. As an example if you were to search for Pottstown PA you will notice some new things under the already understood map on the right (you can our screenshot here).
You will see that it gives you the map, weather, local time, a brief description,
etc. This is even cooler when you look for something like Aerosmith. which shows songs, albums, and more. Pretty cool right?
Well, many will content in the future that this is a way for Google to “compete” 
with other search platforms. Sites like Wolframalpha.com have been taking this concept and doing it for some time. You can see here the Wolframalpha results for Pottstown PA contain exactly the same information.
This is actually a great idea, as it truly does give people the best, broad brush information, that individuals are looking for.
Maybe, just Maybe, Google is planning a more strategic partnership with the “Data Processing” search engine for the future.
Maybe it is because they messed up the Google+ integration when the first released it and need room to bring it back. Yes, if you don’t remember Google had a much larger integration of the Google+ Your World SERP when they first released it, and it flopped horribly. So now, perhaps they are getting smart and thinking about moving this concept into a seperate, not related to organic searching, area. Would be a good bet if you ask me.
Maybe it is because, simply… they can. They process more data than most companies create in a year. They have the skill, knowledge, and most importantly statistics to prove what people are looking for, and then what they are doing once they get a result. They are taking known, commonly used thigns and bringing them to the top. Smart move again Google braintrust. Good move.