Google now recommends retrieving blog results by conducting your search and then clicking "News" (above the results)> "Search Tools" (to the right, also above the results)> "All News" (that subsequently appears in the row beneath "News" and "Search Tools", et al)> "Blogs" (from the resulting drop-down menu). However, the list of blogs from which these results are drawn is not as extensive or diverse as those retrieved by the previous BlogSearch.

But are They Really Blogs?

Retrieving the Blog-only results from a Google NewsSearch for the keyword "Obama" returned results drawn primarily from the blogs of mainstream media news sites (e.g., South Florida Reporter, Tampa Bay.com, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Fox News). Previously, many smaller, individual, and personal-type blogs were also included in results.  

The current results list covers a date range of approximately five months.

Filters Can't Be 'Mixed and Matched'

While it would be logical to believe that you could extend the date range of your Blog-only NewsSearch results by creating a "Custom Date Range" (using the "Anytime" drop-down menu), this Custom Date Range does not actually work as expected.

When we entered a date range of "01/01/2015-12/31/2015" we did receive a new list of results that fit into that date range - but one that had reverted to "All News" sources. Also note that when we used the "Sorted by Date" feature (found at the top of the results list) the reordered list of "All News" results was in no discernable order at all, with dates jumping from:

• June 3, 2015
• February 6, 2015
• February 11, 2015
• October 22, 2015
• December 24, 2015
• May 8, 2015
• June 30, 2015

While you can filter the list back to Blog-only results, by clicking "All News" (in the row beneath "News" and Search Tools", et al)> "Blogs" (from the resulting drop-down menu) - again - unfortunately, the resulting list reverts to "Recent" results, "Sorted by Relevance."

So, you can either have a longer, more-specific date range of "All News" sources or a list of five months worth of "Blog-only results. Take your pick.

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We have found some clues to the date coverage of the Google News database by conducting test searches for some period-specific-type topics like the keyword “Nixon.”

Clicking “Search Tools”>”Recent”>”Custom Range” gives us the opportunity to set a custom date range from which we want Google to retrieve News results. Even here,  Google offers no search hints to indicate how far back news content might be available. When we visit the Google News Help pages (https://support.google.com/news/answer/3334?hl=en&ref_topic=13635), they state, “For a specific date range, select “specified dates” and enter what range you’d like to search in the two date fields. For ranges older than 30 days, use Google Web Search.” However, it IS possible to retrieve news results form the Google News Search interface that is older than 30 days using the  “Search Tools”>”Recent”>”Custom Range” method.

For example, using this method we were able to retrieve news results for our “Nixon” search back to approximately 1977 (Time magazine result shown above). The majority of results prior to 2002 came from the NY Times and were available to read for free.

The post Google’s News Search is in Even Worse Condition Than we First Thought | Another in an Unfortunately Growing Series of Articles about Google Search Problems appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Recent Google News test searches (like the one above) have included results dating back as far as  2004.

But a visit to Google's News documentation would still tell you that "Google News includes articles that have been crawled within the last 30 days."

Even the Wikipedia entry for Google News still indicates that it only covers the most recent 30 days worth of news content. However, our test searches clearly show that older sources are being included in the results lists.

Whether this extension is a result of Google's intention to permanently return older news results or just a temporary effect caused by Google re-crawling specific news sources remains to be seen.

Note, these results are not being generated by searches of Google's (mostly-ignored) News Archive search.

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Google Blogsearch is no more. It appears that Google has killed the blog only search database.

Requests for the blog-only search interface that used to live at https://google.com/blogsearch and https://blogsearch.google.com now return a "page not found" error or redirect to Google's "regular" Web Search interface.

It is, however, possible to force Google to display the Blogsearch interface and search the Blogsearch database by manually adding the application for the Blogsearch to your the URL in your browser's address bar (or omnibox) - like this https://www.google.com/search?tbm=blg. (tbm instructs the the browser to retrieve a specific application from the Google server and blg is the designation for the Blogsearch. A complete list of Google application designations can be found at http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/58550/what-does-tbm-mean-in-google-search.)

Blog results can also still be displayed by clicking the "Search Tools" button above Google News Search results, then clicking the "All News" drop-down menu and selecting "Blogs." However, this list of blog results is not as extensive as those retrieved by searching the above-referenced URL.

For example, retrieving the Blog-only results from a Google News search for the keyword Obama returned results drawn primarily from the blogs of mainstream media news sites (e.g., Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox News) and covers only a date range back about 23 days.

The same search using this interface https://www.google.com/search?tbm=blg returned results from a wider range of blogs (including smaller news outlets and personal blogs), as well as covering a broader date range.

While it would be logical to believe that you could extend the date range of your Blog-only News Search results by creating a "Custom Date Range" (using the "Anytime" drop-down menu), this Custom Date Range does not actually work in the News Search for any dates beyond the News Search's 30 day coverage range. (It is a remnant of the old News Archive Search.)

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Back in May, we wrote about Google's cancellation of its News Archive project. At the time, the Boson Phoenix, one of the newspaper partners providing content to the News Archive, reported that the Archive was expected to live on - it's just that no new content would be added to it. While conducting test searches today, we have learned that Google has discontinued the standalone News Archive Search and integrated its results more fully into its (current) News Search. 

Previously, the Google News Archive Search was located at https://news.google.com/archivesearch and its Advanced Search page was located at https://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search. As of (at least) August 17, the former returns a 404 error now redirects to the (current) Google News Search page and the latter redirects to Google's Web Search Advanced Search page.

After some further digging, we've determined that the News Archive Search isn't completely dead...it's just been integrated so far into the (current) News Search that it can be (more) easily missed.

Search results from Google's (current) News Search display an option in the now-familiar left-hand side bar to filter results by currency (e.g., "Past Hour," "Past month," "2009"). This now includes an option to display only the "Archive" results. The site's notion of what constitutes "archival" news material is pretty loose however. A search conducted on August 17, 2011 considered content from June 17 of the same year to be archival. Once you click the Archive option in the side bar the available options to filter the results by currency change, adding older dates/ranges (e.g., "1949-1950," "1951-1958"). The left-hand-side bar also gives you the option of setting a "Custom Range" of dates within which to display results. Additionally, you can use the News Search's Advanced Search page to set a custom date range before you begin your search.

The standalone News Archive has not completely disappeared, however. It can now be accessed by itself at https://news.google.com/newspapers. This page displays an alphabetical list of the more than 2,000 newspapers whose content makes up the News Archive. The list of newspapers is browseable by scrolling or clicking on one of the letters of the alphabet near the top of the page to jump to the newspapers whose names that begin with the letter you've selected.

There is only a simple search box on this page. There is no Advanced Search page. Searching via this interface eliminates some of the newer content in the search results. Using the same test search mentioned above, the most recent result returned when searching this interface was July 10 of the previous year. Results of searches conducted at this page also include the left-hand side bar and currency filters (although the date ranges in this interface do not extend back as far as the ones noted above). You can set a custom date range from the left-hand side bar as you can in the News Search results. Despite the lack of an Advanced Search page, you can force the News Archive Search to perform more targeted "field" searches by manually including the search operators along with your search terms in the search box. For example, a search for "cold war" source:"New York Times" would return results for the phrase "cold war" only from the "New York Times" no other sources would be considered. Note that these operators must be all lowercase. Also note that despite its inclusion of results from the New York Times in numerous test searches we ran, that paper is not listed in the alphabetical list of newspapers in the archive mentioned above.

The "Timeline" display of results is also no longer available in searches using the Archive-only interface.

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The Boston Phoenix is reporting that Google "would cease accepting, scanning, and indexing microfilm and other archival material from newspapers" that makes up its Google News Archive Search. "Instead of recent stories, this database retrieves major newspaper and magazine articles and other news archives." Publications can charge users to access this older news content, splitting the fees with Google. "Google says it eventually scanned 60 million pages, covering 250 years," according to The Phoenix. The Google News Archive Search, which "provides [full-text searchable] access to older news information" will continue to exist, it's just that additional archival material will not be added.

Google's relationship with the News Archive always seemed a bit distant. "A link to to the Google News Archive once appeared on the top-right hand side of the Google News home page. It has since been removed, so it's now a little trickier to find the archive. Use the direct URL (https://news.google.com/archivesearch)."

The Phoenix reports that the e-mail the paper received indicates that  "Google said it would continue to support the existing archives it has scanned and indexed. It added, 'We do not, however, plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the digitized news product.'" Instead, the Phoenix says the e-mail stated that Google would focus on "newer projects that help the industry, such as Google One Pass, a platform that enables publishers to sell content and subscriptions directly from their own sites."

PRACTICE TIP:
Before paying for an article, check your public library to see if it's available for free via their remote access service.

Portions of this post are excerpted from:

"Google For Lawyers: Essential Search Tips and Productivity Tools" is a hands-on guide to the Google tools, tips, and tricks that can help you work smarter...not harder.

The post Google Cancels News Archive Search appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

UPDATE 11/11/10: The "Timeline" option to display Google Web search results is still available. (See screenshot below.) The Timeline option is still not available for News and/or News Archive results.

Google has removed the "Timeline" display option from its Google News Archives search results list.

When it was available, selecting this option reordered the results, displaying a graphical, chronological timeline above the results list (see screenshot above). The timeline showed the distribution of articles over time. Clicking on any point (date) on the timeline displayed only results from that point in time.

One of the problems with the timeline - and any of Google's "Sort by Date" options for that matter that we discuss in our live "Google For Lawyers" Continuing Legal Education seminars - is that the date assigned to a particular result wasn't necessarily the date on which the story was originally published. It was the date that Google added the story to its index (or updated the story in its index). This distinction wasn't always made clear.

Recently, Google has sought to clarify the dates associated with these results with a caveat displayed beneath the results list. Initially, the caveat read: "Dates associated with search results are estimated and are determined automatically by a computer program." (See screenshot above.)

Now, Google has sought to further clarify to users how it assigns dates to these results with an expanded caveat beneath its Google News search results. It now reads: "The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program. The time or date displayed reflects when an article was added to or updated in Google News." (See screenshot above.)

The post Google Removes ‘Timeline’ Display Option From News Archive Results; Clarifies Dates Assigned to Results appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.