Google Groups by Jakob Jelling

Google Groups by Jakob Jelling

Some very early users of the Internet - not the worldwide web as we know it today - but the Internet from the early 1980s, will have heard of, and likely used, Usenet. This was the collective name applied to text-based electronic bulletin boards that were used to communicate in the days before the web and email existed, and that are still in use today. The Usenet posts were first collected and organized for worldwide web use in 1995, by a company called Deja News. In 2001, Google bought Deja News and applied their considerable search expertise to Usenet posts. The result is Google Groups.

There are well over 30,000 Google Groups today. These are hosted on servers all over the world, and Google Groups provides a browser-based interface to them, as well as creating searchable archives. From a very clean interface, users may search any of the various subsections of Google Groups. In the same way a clothing web site may be divided into sections for men's, women's, and children's wear, Usenet is divided into sections such as biz (business related), comp (computer related), humanities (art, literature related), and so on. From there, subsections may be divided into more specialized sub-topics where necessary.

Sadly, many Google Groups are now spammer hangouts more than anything else. Widely available web access and programs that can automatically post to thousands of newsgroups in just a short while have destroyed much of the original spirit and usefulness of the Usenet groups. And parents need to know that on some sections of Usenet there are some very inappropriate topics that have been started over the years, so they should exercise due caution in protecting their children from those sections.

For those who don't mind a bit of digging through the virtual trash can, there are still many, many useful and active Google Groups, full of friendly, helpful people, so be sure to check out this often-overlooked resource.
About the Author
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

Help your visitors zero in with Site-Flavored Google search by Jakob Jelling

Help your visitors zero in with Site-Flavored Google search by Jakob Jelling

As Google has gained in their search reputation the past few years, many webmasters have added a Google search box to their pages. This is meant to provide a quick path for visitors to continue their search, should they not find what they're looking for on the original site. To help these webmasters provide even more service to their visitors, Google is currently beta-testing a new feature called Site-Flavored Google Search.

A site-flavored search will allow searchers to view results more closely related to the site where they started their search. For example, a webmaster for an auto parts site can fill out a profile to tell Google about their site. Searchers from that site can then use the Google search form to view search results more closely related to automotive topics than a general search might provide. A search from that site for "oil" might return information about the various types and brands of automotive engine oil, while a generic Google search might return broader business-related results from oil refiners and industry sites.

When a visitor performs a site-flavored Google search, some results may display with a small graphic of colored balls. This graphic is an indication to the searcher that Google determined the result next to it was relevant to their search. This is an option that is set by the webmaster in the site-flavored search profile. Note that a user's browser must be relatively new (IE5 or higher, NS5 or higher, or Mozilla 1.4 or higher), and they must have Javascript enabled, in order to use site-flavored search.
About the Author
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.