Google may be the 800lb gorilla when it comes to general search, but in the realm of blog search, the tech giant demonstrates no such superiority. In many cases its main rival, Technorati, routinely brings more reliable results. As touched on by Rand Fishkin, this really shouldn’t be the case - Google should be controlling blog search in the same way it holds a brutish grip on the general search industry.

Problems with Google Blog Search

So what are the problems that are keeping Google Blog Search from being as polished a product as it should be?

• Non-blog inclusions - Google seems to have a strange definition of a blog. Apparently, forum posts and Digg submissions both fall into the category. Such pages may be useful for those looking for content on the social web, but strictly speaking they shouldn’t be returned when under the umbrella of Blog Search.
  • Example - Searching for my football club 4 hours after their latest game ended, the first result is this. Why is this being served up in a blog search?
• Spam - For whatever reason, it appears that Blog Search is without the same level of spam filtering as Google’s general search. As you venture beyond the first page for most queries, the quality of results falls away. This could be worked around if it wasn’t for the fact that more relevant results are dotted around amongst the spam on later pages. With Google Blog Search, you never really know when you’ve reached the end of the relevant results. This makes for lots of trawling to find all coverage of a story.
  • Example - Searching ‘baby names‘ when researching for one of my sites, the 14th result is titled ‘Sexy teen girl booty dancing (ass shaking apple bottom)‘

I personally feel I can’t rely on either Technorati or Google Blog Search. Combined use of the two should see you through until Google starts reconsidering the way they serve blog search.