Google Blog Search has – in theory, at least – gotten better. A slight overhaul was performed yesterday, with changes in both the engine’s algorithm and the site’s appearance being implemented.
Have you ever searched for, say, “wanda sykes obama” and then seen some results about the comedian’s new kids instead of a certain recent performance? Well, that sort of mix-up may still occur, but Google’s Jeremy Hylton, who leads a search quality team in New York, told Matt McGee, “We’re doing a better job of choosing the blog posts to include in clusters.”
Hylton also said, in case you’ve come to feel that not enough results are presented or the same old blogs are always front and center, that his team’s increasing the number of posts eligible for clustering.
And Hylton’s group has taken into account whether Google Blog Search highlights original reports as much as it should, too. “One important [change] is that we’re processing new links much faster, so the post that breaks a story and gets a lot of links is more likely to become the lead story,” he stated.
It may take a few days to sort out whether all of this (and a new, more barebones layout) really represents a tangible improvement over the old Google Blog Search. In the meantime, just keep your fingers crossed that the site remains accessible at all, as its close relative, Google News, went down again this morning.
