Google To Shuffle Blogs Out?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30621.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30621.html</a><br /><br /></div>"Google is to create a search tool specifically for weblogs, most likely giving material generated by the self-publishing tools its own tab. CEO Eric Schmidt made the announcement on Monday, at the JP Morgan Technology and Telecom conference. 'Soon the company will also offer a service for searching Web logs, known as "blogs,"' reported Reuters. <br /><br />It isn't clear if weblogs will be removed from the main search results, but precedent suggests they will be. After Google acquired Usenet groups from Deja.com, it developed a unique user interface and a refined search engine, and removed the groups from the main index. After a sticky start, Usenet veterans welcomed the new interface. Google recently acquired Blogger, and sources suggest this is the most likely option. Bloggers too are likely to welcome their very own tab as a legitimization of the publishing format. But many others will breathe a sigh of relief as blogs disappear from the main index."<br /><br />This is quite interesting, and potentially lethal to a lot of sites out there. My question would be how Google defines what a Blog is. Is it a reverse-chronologically update site? A site that uses Web-based tools to be updated? A site that uses Blogger or Moveable Type? Or is it a site that focuses purely on the opinions of the owner? If so, where do you draw the line? Pocket PC Thoughts gets a great deal of traffic every day from Google (4332 visitors last week alone) - if Google decides we're a Blog, and they filter our Blogs and put them into a "Blog" tab like many are speculating, it will be bad news for us. Pocket PC Thoughts started out as a Blog, but I feel we've evolved into something more than that. Not that I'm dissing Blogs mind you. :wink:

[Janak Parekh]

I have a strong feeling this article is inaccurate (it's the Register, after all), and it relates only to Google's purchase of Pyra (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8884), and not to other websites out there. Otherwise, I can't think of a way of programmatically eliminating blogs from a search query that wouldn't hit news or corporate sites with news pages...

--janak

[dubStylee]

My bookmarks folder has a folder for PPC with subdivisions for "News", "Articles", and "Software". A link to Pocket PC Thoughts homepage is right up at the top of the "News" section. Various helpful hints I've found in messages in PPC Thoughts blogs are linked individually in the "Articles" section and various reviews of products from the site are linked individual ly under Software.

So: 1) it isn't useful (if its even possible via software) to classify a complex site as "blog" or "not blog" and 2) it IS useful to classify pages (not sites) and to perform selective searches on them.

Personally I'd vote for a -noblog option on the existing search tool and trust to Google (whose instincts seem to be pretty darn good) to find a good way to implement it.

--
Jeff

[Crystal Eitle]

It would be great if Google did have a "blogs only" tab. Sometimes when news happens, I'm not looking for news articles, but for people's opinions or analysis of the news, and blogs are a great way to get that.

At the same time, I'd like to see blogs remain in the main search results. Especially if to exclude blogs would entail excluding sites like Pocket PC Thoughts. Google is how I found this site!

[Billsgirl]

What is a Blog? :oops:

Thanks for the reponse,

embarrased Newbie :?

[lurch]

What is a Blog? :oops:

Thanks for the reponse,

embarrased Newbie :?

Blog is short for "Web Log" and it refers to basically an online (public) diary or journal. They've gotten fancier than that now, and include things like the ability to leave feedback on what the person posted, etc..

Most people update them once a day (maybe more though) and many of them are just useless information about some teenager's daily living (like we all want to revisit THAT part of our lives again :) ) but many are done by very intelligent intellectuals who actually post useful and interesting thoughts! :)

Here's an example of a Blog...
http://amywelborn.blogspot.com/

Edit: fixed spelling :oops: and added link to example

[dubStylee]

What is a Blog? :oops:

Thanks for the reponse,

embarrased Newbie :?

This (the discussion forum you and I are using to communicate) is a blog. It starts with a reverse-chronological (the last shall be first) table of contents on the homepage and then branches from there to a series of discussion-responses.

It stands for weB LOG.

Everyone's a newbie in something.

[Crystal Eitle]

I wouldn't characterize Pocket PC Thoughts as a blog, though it may have started out as one. I would call it more of a news site, with forums.

To me, the chief characteristic of weblogs is that they give an individual's perspective (or that of a small group of individuals).

Otherwise, I'd agree with the definitions already posted. It's a site with short articles, essays, or "links+commentary" (the classic weblog format), in reverse chronological order, updated on a fairly frequent basis.

Both of my sites, linked below, are weblogs, and have the standard weblog features like comments, permalinks (which are links to an individual entry, usually in the form of a timestamp), and a blogroll (lists of sites that the site's author visits regularly).

EDIT: I should clarify, though, that this is just my opinion. Since blogs are a relatively new phenomenon, the definition of "blog" is still in flux.

[Crystal Eitle]

Here's a funny Blogging FAQ (http://www.brunching.com/weblogfaqk.html):

"Weblogs cover a wide range of topics, such as other weblogs, what the mainstream media are saying about weblogging, new weblogs, advances in weblog publishing, books about weblogging, the future of weblogging, and that one naked guy painted up like Spider-Man."

I'm still waiting for this advance:

"Soon you'll be able to check out your weblog to see what your opinions are without even having to form them." :lol:

[malcolmsharp]

I'm almost positive they won't remove blogs from the main sight. The only reason to think they might was the newsgroups, but that clearly did need to have it's own area (I actually don't remember them being in the regular search, anyway... it's a seperate thing from the net).

Part of what has blogs moving forward are the normal people finding them in searches even when they have no idea what a blog is.

Another problem is defining what a 'blog' is. Even some of the main news sites are using blogs to some degree now. And what about this site? News, reviews, forums and such... it is a blog, but it's also much more.

Removing them would be not only dumb, but technically rather hard. They would have to code in a 'blog detector'. How good would that be, and how would it read all the differnt types of formats that they use?

[bdegroodt]

What is a Blog? :oops:

Thanks for the reponse,

embarrased Newbie :?

Actually, newbie question or not, this is an important question to answer if this Google news is to be so. I'd be curious to understand how Google would decide what deserves to be in a search and what is a blog and should be in another tab.

I'd like to see a blog specific tab, but not at the cost of it showing in the main search results. Many companies and professionals use blogs as a way of "sharing" information back to the community in the name of making a better living (Writers, programmers, subject matter experts etc.) and to throw them out of the main search results hardly seems fair to me. I'd rather see them show up in my search than them have to resort to more aggressive advertising forms (Pop ups etc.).

[sponge]

I'd like a way to filter them out IF WANTED. I'm tired of people's pointless opinions, when I don't want them.

[Jan Willem]

I'd like a way to filter them out IF WANTED. I'm tired of people's pointless opinions, when I don't want them.

If they are pointless, I couldn't agree more, although I enjoy reading opinions that DO try to make a point. Like this one ;)

[lurch]

I'd like a way to filter them out IF WANTED. I'm tired of people's pointless opinions, when I don't want them.
I got a chuckle from reading this statement (which I agree with also) and then noting that your handle is "sponge"... :D

[danmanmayer]

I think it is funn that so many people think that there is no way google would do this. Or that it would be that hard to do in the first place. I am sure there would be many ways to determine if a site is a blog or not. No it would not be 100% and people would probably come up with sites like "How to get your blog on google." But that isn't googles real goal. There goal would be to eliminate the majority of blog entries that are clogging up there results. So if you except that they could do this lets look at why would they. We are a highly techy community here. We all probably like blogs. I talk to many of my friends and blogging is geeky dorking and they hate them all. There are tons of net users that think blogs are a waste of time. So i wouldn't be suprised if google removed the blogs. I also wouldn't be suprised if they just added this as a filter feature. Since there are plenty of people that like blogs. I also agree with about everyone on the board that it would be great to have a blog only tab. Anyways just my 2 cents... (which are only really worth about a penny.)

Oh yeah you can't get to angry at me i have a blog too...hehe
http://www.bandddesigns.com/blogger

[Chris Leckness]

http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081

Blogs To Stay
By the way, one thing NOT in the cards for future index changes are any plans to pull blog content out of Google's regular search results. Google made a special point of stressing that blogs are staying, during my interview with them last week.

The idea that blogs were to go came out of a Register article last month. The piece suggested that if a "blog" tab was eventually added to Google, blogs themselves would be removed from the main web page index to increase relevancy. As proof of this, the Register said this is what happened to Usenet posts after Google "acquired Usenet groups" from Deja."

First of all, Google didn't acquire Usenet groups -- no one owns Usenet groups, any more than anyone owns the web. Instead, Deja had archives of posts made in those groups. Google acquired those and then began crawling Usenet to add to the archives. As Usenet information had never been part of the web index, there was nothing to "pull."

So if a blog index is created, it's not a given that blog content would be pulled. Indeed, Google has not pulled directory or news listings from the web index even though both types of content can be found via their own tabs.

And will a blog tab really be coming? Eventually, sure. But it's not something in any immediate plans, Google says.