Note: Google Blog Search is now live. More details in this Sept. 14, 2004 SearchDay story, Google Launches Industrial Strength Blog Search
A longer version of this story for Search Engine Watch members examines recent crawling Google has done of some feed content, perhaps to create a feed/blog search engine. It also recaps fears some have that Google may favor the Atom distribution format that Google backs and the company's assurances that it won't. |
On the heels of relaunching its Blogger service, Google has also released its own official blog promising "insight into the news, technology and culture of Google" and "the latest word direct from the Googleplex about new technology, hot issues, and the wide world of search."
The promises may come true in time. But so far, there's only one so-so post that's a pitch to work at Google.
How about some real insight, such as personal accounts of what's going on inside Google in the wake of the Google IPO announcement. More tales like the one Aaron Swartz recently posted on his unofficial Google Weblog would be far more interesting and blog-like.
The Google Blog is brand new, of course, so it will be watch and see as to how it develops. One thing that will be interesting is whether Google will start providing tips for search engine marketers through it.
The famed GoogleGuy poster at WebmasterWorld.com suggested recently that such a thing might happen (for more, see my GoogleGuySays Becomes GoogleGuy Paraphrased article from last month for Search Engine Watch members).
Who will be doing the blogging? Will cofounders Larry Page or Sergey Brin show up from time to time, perhaps turning this satirical blog into reality? Why blog at all? Google didn't answer the first two questions but stepped up to the third.
"We were inspired by the relaunch of Blogger to create our own Google Blog. The Google Blog enables us to update our users directly with the latest news and information about the company in a weblog format. We're big fans of blogging and we believe blogs are an especially effective way of connecting directly to people and communities. We hope our users will find the Google Blog to be informative, fun and entertaining," said spokesperson Eileen Rodriguez.
Future Of Blog Search Engine?
I had wondered if a Google Blog was coming, after sightings of a http://www.google.com/blog URL were reported last month.
There was some speculation that this newly-found URL, which had brought up a page simply saying "test," meant Google might launch a new blog search engine. That URL now shows an error, with the blog now living at a slightly different URL.
But how about the idea of a blog search at Google -- or even the ability to search for web feeds that many blogs and news sites use? Google has said in the past that a Google blog search engine will eventually come. But Blogger program manager Evan Williams said that there were no specific plans that he could discuss.
"It's certainly something we are interested in. We're always looking for stuff we should be searching," Williams said. "I'm very interested in there being an easier way to search blogs. That's all I can say on the subject."
As a reminder, Google-competitor Yahoo does offer a type of web feed search engine -- sort of. Visit the Yahoo's advanced search page, set the File Format option to RSS/XML, and now you can search through any blog and web feed content that Yahoo has indexed.
Unfortunately, the results aren't as good as you'll find using a dedicated feed search engine such as Daypop, Feedster or Technorati.
For example, a search for gmail at Feedster provides direct links to articles that were listed within RSS feeds. The same at Yahoo brings back mostly links to the home pages of sites with feeds that may have mentioned Gmail. You don't go directly to the distributed article.
For more blog and feed search engines, see the RSS News Feeds & Blog Search Engines section of Search Engine Watch. My RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content article from last year also explains more about the concept of getting content through feed syndication.
A longer version of this story for Search Engine Watch members examines recent crawling Google has done of some feed content, perhaps to create a feed/blog search engine. It also recaps fears some have that Google may favor the Atom distribution format that Google backs and the company's assurances that it won't. |
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