Using Google Blog Search

Article by Meryl Evans (7,056 pts ) , published Jul 21, 2009

Google Blog Search isn't the same thing as the regular Google Search that we all know and often use. Using Google Blog Search can do more than limit your search results to blog. It has a few tricks of its own to make things easier for you. Discover its secrets.

Many of us may revisit the same blogs on a regular basis. However, with so many valuable blogs on the web, we have to expand our world a little to meet the people we would otherwise not meet. Google Blog Search differs from Google's regular search in that it limits the searches to blogs rather than any online content.

Google Search vs. Google Blog Search

If you use Google.com to search for say, "Harry Potter," you'll get results from every type of site known to humankind. This includes encyclopedias, spam sites, fan sites, forums and more. Search for "Harry Potter" at http://blogsearch.google.com/ to knock cut out the noise and see only blog results.

Look at the next two images. The first shows the results of "Harry Potter" in Google Search and the second limiting the search to blogs.

Standard Google Search for "Harry Potter"Google Blog Search for "Harry Potter"

Using Google Blog Search Features

After running a search, you can narrow down your results by the publishing time from "last hour" to "choose dates." We know how news goes out of date online in almost an instant, so you can make sure you have the latest results, if timing matters. You can also change your sort from "by relevance" to "by date." You may prefer to keep it on "by relevance" and then use the published time to control the freshness factor. When search for a general term, relevance will provide better results.

Like regular Google search, Google Blog Search offers Advanced Search options. Both advanced search options work the same way. The only difference comes in what Google searches (blog vs. internet). The next two images show you the regular Google advanced search and Google Blogs advanced search.

Advanced Google SearchAdvanced Google Blog Search

Google Blog Search uses the standard Google Search operators such as link, site, intitle as well as its own operators such as inblogtitle, inposttitle, inpostauthor and blogurl. If you enter "inblogtitle harry potter," Google Blog Search returns only sites that have "Harry Potter in their blog titles. To expand beyond blog titles and look for posts, use "inposttitle harry potter."

Spammers, of course, find their way into almost every keyword. You can report spam in the Blog Search index by submitting a spam report. Is a site using your blog's content without your permission? Report copyright infringement.

Submitting Blogs to Google Blog Search

Your blog doesn't have to run on Blogger.com, Google's blogging application, to appear in Google Blog Search. If your blog isn't included, review the Google Blog Search Pinging Service FAQ to automatically ping your blog. Add your blog to Blog Search to manually submit your blog.

For More Information on Google

 
Subscribe to Google
RSS
Get free weekly updates, directly to your inbox.