Written on October 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am by Darren Rowse
Google BlogSearch Adds Meme Tracking
Today Google released an update to their BlogSearch service – and it isn’t just cosmetic.
The update is all about tracking what’s hot around the blogosphere and presenting stories ranked in 11 different categories according to how many other blogs are linking to those stories. You can then drill down and see the blogs that link to the story and a chart of how many did over time.
It isn’t a new concept – TechMeme, Technorati, Blogs.com and others have been doing it for years – however what strikes me here is just how comprehensive Google’s results are. While TechMeme only indexes a limited number of blogs Google’s BlogSearch has been indexing millions (?) of blogs for some time now and will be able to provide a different perspective to what is happening in the wider blogosphere (instead of just the cool gang).
It’ll be interesting to see how their results compare over the longer term and how they’ll deal with spammers and those trying to manipulate the service – but at a first impression I like what I see. I just wish there was a way to subscribe to the top stories in each category (I’m surprised that there is not… or am I missing it?).
Further Reading
21 Responses to “Google BlogSearch Adds Meme Tracking” - Add Yours
Jake
October 2nd, 2008 11:12 am
NIce – I’ll have to go take a look. Thanks Darren.
I’m sure people are already out there trying to manipulate the results
Eric Hamm
October 2nd, 2008 11:18 am
I’ll have to add this to my blogging search tools. I was unaware of this particular Google app/service. Thanks for the info.
Tinh
October 2nd, 2008 11:39 am
Great news, thanks for sharing Darren
Sid Savara
October 2nd, 2008 11:45 am
You’re right, the lack of a subscription for the top blogs is kind of irritating.
On the other hand, I already have Google alerts and actual searchs via RSS, so it’s not so bad.
Osman
October 2nd, 2008 12:05 pm
Google blog search has been more successful than any other competitor lately. This is also why WordPress has changed the incoming links section from Technorati to Google blog search. They are more thorough.
Google is very, very intelligent in business administration. Far more intelligent than any other technology company. Maybe far more than any other company too. And here are it’s results.
Jim
October 2nd, 2008 12:14 pm
hey, sorry this doesn’t pertain to the post, but I just wanted to drop you a line…
I bought your book (the problogger book) and it was great. I’m working on building up a group of blogger friends in my same topic to help each other out, and I’ve already loaned my copy of the book to another one of the guys :)
Thanks for the help (and motivation),
Jim
zolar
October 2nd, 2008 12:24 pm
Whoa it look great and I hope it will help us, blogger to get more traffic
Mike Nichols
October 2nd, 2008 2:00 pm
Good news for bloggers! But… I wonder how — or if — they will track those blogs that fall outside those 11 categories? Will they be expanding the categories in the future? And, like you said, offer subscriptions?
It’s a good beginning, though. Thanks for the tip, Darren!
impNERD
October 2nd, 2008 2:15 pm
I’ve been checking it out and have to say, as a searcher I love the change. I get to see the info I really want to see. As a blogger, I have to say it sucks. It looks like the small to medium sized blogger will be left out of the loop.
Shaun Connell
October 2nd, 2008 3:36 pm
Ah, brilliant idea on their part.
PotPieGirl
October 2nd, 2008 3:44 pm
I can’t find a way to subscribe, either… would be SWEET if we could!
Thanks for the fyi!
Jennifer
~PotPieGirl
The Blog Academy [dot com]
October 2nd, 2008 5:33 pm
Fantastic News. Google do love bloggers after all
Shafar
October 2nd, 2008 6:05 pm
Very nice update from Google BlogSearch
Moise Levi
October 2nd, 2008 8:16 pm
Thanks, that tool will also probably allow bloggers to see who copies their “content”
Anthony Farrior
October 2nd, 2008 11:57 pm
“instead of just the cool gang”…That’s good enough for me!!!!
Manou
October 3rd, 2008 9:42 am
Great tool, definitely a helper for blogger.
Jaseem Umer
October 3rd, 2008 12:41 pm
Great tool. But isn’t it crazy to have a site owned by Google spammed almost before it is launched?
charles
October 3rd, 2008 7:24 pm
Google might outrank.. technorati and the others..
CoolProducts
October 4th, 2008 3:57 am
I’ve grown so used to using Technorati.. Thanks for the heads up on this google update! I’m going to check it out!
mike
October 7th, 2008 2:12 am
A list of the top blogs would be nice also.
login
December 21st, 2008 2:04 am
I finally got a chance to check out your web page, and I must say that I’m impressed. Hope everything is going well. Take care!
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