In its first major upgrade ever, Google Blogsearch just relaunched and looks radically different. Instead of the blank page look of Google.com, Blogsearch now looks like Google News (but uglier) – with the hottest topics from the blogosphere aggregated on the front page. Readers can drill down in 11 different categories, from technology, business, sports and entertainment. Google says you can use Blogsearch to see what the world is talking about.
The user interface isn’t nearly as nice as leading tech blog memetracker Techmeme, but the new Blogsearch has some major advantages.
How it Compares
We’re in shock that Google Blogsearch has actually updated. It’s cleaner and less spammy than Technorati, it’s more transparent than Yahoo Buzz, it’s more inclusive than Six Apart’s new Blogs.com and to the big question will be whether it’s faster than Techmeme. (Techmeme caught this story far faster than the new Google Blogsearch!) That’s our concern as a tech site. This has to be entirely new for bloggers who write about television, video games or business. Those sectors have got to be excited.
The science blogosphere has Postgenomic, which is so full featured it probably won’t lose any traffic at all to Google Blogsearch Science.
A Techmeme Killer?
Even in tech, though we may love Techmeme – it’s audience is more influential than it is large. The new Google Blogsearch has the potential to reach tens of millions of people and drive insane amounts of traffic.
Techmeme indexes a limited number of tech blogs, primarily blogs linked-to by other blogs that are already indexed. Google Blogsearch, on the other hand, indexes all blog posts faster than anyone else on the web.
Techmeme is a great site and founder Gabe Rivera works hard to update its machinery and functionality regularly. The same iteration strategy can’t be assumed for the new Google Blogsearch, in fact it appears that the Google News algorithm has just been applied to blogs. All this may or may not be significant. Rivera offered no response when we contacted him asking for one.
We’re excited about the new Google Blogsearch. What do you think? Can you imagine yourself visiting it now?
