8 replies to this topic

[bwelford]

I suddenly noticed today that Google Blog Search has added a new button. You can now either Search Blogs or Search the Web. That's a great improvement, since before the two ran very independently.

I am, of course, assuming everyone can see this. I also read today in one of the Google blogs that they sometimes do tests on some of their searchers. They will show a new search page to a small fraction of their visitors and see what reaction they get. I hope I'm not just one of the few anthropoids they're trying this on at the moment.

[DonnaFontenot]

I see the button.

Veering only slightly off-topic, I admit this is really the first time I've ever really paid attention to Google's blog search. While I was there, I decided to search for some phrases. I have several blogs, and these are phrases that I rank well for in the regular Google web search. Lo and behold, I don't rank well for them in the blog search. Go figure...my blogs do well in regular search, but not in blog search. *scratching my head*

[eKstreme]

The best use I've found for G Blog Search is for backlinks. I just search for the domain name, and up pops a list of entries linking back to me. No need to wait for the main backlink updates.

[bwelford]

I think it's important to understand how Google Blog search works. It works only on RSS newsfeeds I believe. So like Google News it will only deal with the most recent of your blog entries and only work on the content of the RSS newsfeed. So if you have a full text newsfeed, you'll give the algorithm more content to work on.

If I want to know the most up-to-date stuff on a topic, I do a Blog Search first. After that I would then do a regular search, which is why the new button really works well for me.

You'll find your blog entries are within the Blog Search usually within an hour. It then may take up to a week before they appear in the regular search.

I don't think Google has made enough noise about this. I find it one of the most effective ways of being aware of the latest happenings.

[eKstreme]

Has anyone else noticed that javascript-created backlinks appear in Blog Search as proper backlinks? I have a few people using the Socializer JS file, which uses document.write to create the bookmarking URL. Some of those are showing up as backlinks. Exciting, no?

I'm waiting for the main G index to update its backlinks.

[rustybrick]

Are you sure this is new? The Google Cache from 21st, shows the button.

[bwelford]

I use Blogsearch quite often, Barry, so it happened sometime in the recent past. Certainly it didn't used to be there because it's a functionality I really appreciate and was slightly irritated that it wasn't there.

[DonnaFontenot]

Thanks for the explanation, Barry. That explains it.

[Aaron Pratt]

That is very useful, now I will use it, thanks.