A number of people have noticed that Google is viewing their websites as blogs when they are not really blogs. They are finding that Google is placing them in blog search portions of universal search results in regular Google searches.
This is the topic being discussed in a thread at the WebmasterWorld forum. “There are a lot of mixed emotions; I’m on the first page but in the wrong place,” says one WebmasterWorld member, who started the thread on the issue.
Why would Google do this?
Another person suggests the inclusion of commenting on a site, but the original poster says their site doesn’t allow comments. A different user suggests that RSS feeds could be the reason that Google is viewing sites as blogs. At Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz also discusses this as a possibility.
He does note, however, that Apple.com has RSS feeds, but is not included in blog search results, so there must be more to it than that. Many sites that aren’t blogs are included in blog search though, he says. He also makes another good point.
“Should webmasters be upset if their sites are included in Google Blog Search?” he asks. “Can it hurt?”
If you’re getting into blog search results (particularly in Universal results), you’re opening up your site for additional traffic. If your site isn’t a blog, there’s a good chance users will figure this out once they click through to it. Hopefully the content on the site is at least relevant to the user’s query.
