"Blogs" have been around as long as the Internet but their numbers have exploded in recent years. Some estimate that there are more than 70 million blogs out there right now, constantly being updated. The term "blog" is a contraction of "Weblog" which described the process of logging content onto the web in the early days of the Internet. Once the proliferation of blogs began, the term "blogosphere" arose to denote the global community of blog sites, which are often interconnected. Today, blogs most often refer to websites where some form or commentary or critique is posted and then added to by users.



What is Google Blog Search

Although the blogosphere follows the same protocols and shares the same space as the broader "world wide web" there are some differences. Blog sites are much more interconnected since they allow -- and even encourage-- linking to other blog sites. The result is that blog sites can get crowded out when a relevant search query is entered into a traditional search engine. So along came Search Engines specifically targeted towards the blogosphere. Technorati is one of the better known early examples of a Blog Search Engine.

Why Should I Use Google Blog Search

Because of its technological capabilities, Google Blog Search produces results much faster than other blog search engines like Technorati or Feedster. And Google Blog Search doesn't "crawl" the web looking for content as the standard Google Search Engine does. Instead it subscribes to all blog feeds so the content, in essence, comes to them. Note that Google Blog Search searches the entire blogosphere, not just its proprietary blogger.com. Once content is received the search engine indexes it and results are displayed using Google's search algorithms.

Go to blogsearch.google.com and check out its home page. Down the center you'll see a list of Top Stories appearing in the blogosphere right now. Down the left side of the page you"ll see a Topics listing from Politics to Sports where you can find up to date blogs on your topic of interest. Along the right you'll see a list of "hot queries" -- most frequent -- and a list of recent posts of interest. Also note at the top of the page, you can also search the World Wide Web from this page -- no need to return to Google Search. When you find blogs you like and would like to keep track of them you can subscribe to the feed through either the Atom or RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news aggregators.

Perhaps the best way to convince yourself that Google Blog Search is valuable is to experiment with it for awhile. Start by entering simple search terms and see what kind of results you get. You'll see the total number of entries which gives you a clue about your search terms: the more general the search term the greater the number of hits you'll get. If you want a little more precision try using Advanced Blog Search. You can refine your search query by words, phrases, or title or URL; or by author, date, and language. Again a little experimentation will be worth the effort. Some say trial and error is the best form of learning!

Getting Your Blog Listed with Google Blog Search

If your blog does not come up in a search by title or URL you can manually submit your web or feed address for submission. Most blogs subscribe to an automatic "pinging" service which updates the index whenever there is a new entry. This is how Google Blog Search finds blog listings so you may want to sign up with one of these services. Google offers one called Google Blog Search Pinging Service.

One final note. If you have been using Blogger.com and like its appearance, Google Blog Search has a version with a Blogger.com skin available. Good Luck with your Blog Searches!