Sphere to Embark on New Blog Search Adventure
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Written By Reprise Media | April 25, 2006 | Share This
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About a year after start-up (and some impressive first-look buzz in October), Chris Sherman says Sphere is ready to roll today with its new-look blog search (they’re not yet at full speed as of this post, so keep checking back over the next day or so to get a look-see).
While it’s true that there’s no shortage of blog search engines, truly good ones are in short supply. So what makes this one different? Sphere ignores tags in determining relevance, instead concentrating on examining various metadata (like posting length and frequency) and the quality of inbound and outbound links. But what really sets Sphere apart is its semantic analysis of content, what co-founder Steve Nieker calls the “most important piece of the secret sauce.”
Sphere recognizes that users of blog search engines aren’t necessarily trying to find individual posts, but authoritative blogs on specific topics. That’s why, when Sphere returns post abstracts and titles in its results, it also links to a profile of the blog, which contains additional information about the source that will help users determine not only the relevance of the post, but of the blog itself.
The early returns are very favorable, and we’re champing at the bit to see how well Sphere works once they’re open to public stampede.
Topics: Search: Innovations |