Monday, May 12, 2003
Google To Shuffle Blogs Out?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 11:30 AM
"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.
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."
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:
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."
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:
