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Technorati's Buggy Blog Search Beta Stinks

Technorati has launched a very buggy beta of its Blog Finder service. It's supposed to rank blogs by category or technically speaking, by tags. But it doesn't work.

First of all, Technorati tags don't work. Like many other bloggers, I find Technorati, which is supposed to integrate with Moveable Type, doesn't pick up my tags. I have to enter them manually.

Then there's the problem of lack of uniformity in tags. Look at Hurricane Katrina for example. You'll find "Hurricane+Katrina," "Hurricane_Katrina," "Katrina," "Hurricane+Relief," and many other tags on blogs writing about the disaster.

Technorati Blog Search System is Ill-Conceived
What's Next Blog doesn't appear to be in the database at all. Technorati shows 161 posts on a "What's Next Blog" search, although it includes all mentions of "what's," "next," and "what's next" as well as a few results from this blog.

Technorati needs to let bloggers define the way their site should be included. Most people who write about this blog refer to it by my name, so a search on "B.L. Ochman" nets 268 links today and one on "ochman" is the most accurate, with 1,601. Yet business, marketing, PR and general blogs with as few as 34 links are listed and this one isn't.

Technorati can't handle the searches it has; it freezes when a topic gets hot and even on an average day and returns "servers overloaded" messages. The last thing they need to do right now is launch a buggy, ill-conceived new search.

UPDATE: How strange. Last night What's Next Blog didn't show up under any category and now, according to my colleague, Josh Hallet, writing in Business Blog Consulting, we're number one in Public Relations, even thought that's not what this blog is about.

David Sifry, Technorati founder, says:
BL,
We knew that we weren't going to get it right on the first pass - which is why we developed the system so that you can tag your own blog, and specify the tags that youw ant to be listed under. Here's more details on how you can do it:
Dave

blogging, technorati, blog

Categories: Blogging and Moblogging, New Products, Search Engine Marketing

BL Ochman | Sep 2 05 7:52 | TrackBack (3)

Comments

BL,

We knew that we weren't going to get it right on the first pass - which is why we developed the system so that you can tag your own blog, and specify the tags that youw ant to be listed under. Here's more details on how you can do it:

http://technorati.com/help/blogfinder.html

Dave

Posted by: David Sifry at September 2, 2005 9:08 AM

Hey B.L.

Yeah, Technorati leaves a lot to be desired. I have tested against it using word press, mt, drupal, and straight php code with mixed results. Hell, in one case I was using an url appended with 'smallbiz' that did not get indexed because it was already in use. Technorait claims that you do not need a direct 'www.technorati.com/tag/'yourtag' to be indexed, well bs.

I am starting to have better luck with google picking up my tags and categories than technorati, hehe, that was by accident.

What's more, I am starting to focus more attention on icerocket these days since I do not have to do anything special to get listed.

Bottom line, nobody, even developers, wants to screw around with code to have their tags indexed.

jim

Posted by: jim wilde at September 2, 2005 9:11 AM

BL : what happened to your "hot tip" a few weeks back that Technorati was being sold? Have you any ongoing information about this, as many of us posted on it? (This is not a criticism ~ I know how these whispers can go down :-)

Posted by: John (SYNTAGMA) at September 2, 2005 10:18 AM

I think the key word here is Beta.

from http://www.lazworld.com/glossary.htm#B
...Beta
This term has migrated from computer and software development, and it is usually used as "beta site." It means test site or test version. Beta is not the finally version of a product or web site, but it's close enough to show in public and work the bugs out...

Posted by: Grasshoppermind at September 2, 2005 10:32 AM

Jim,

That definitely sounds strange. We have a developers list at developers@technorati.com for questions like this. Or, please feel dree to drop me a line at dsifry AT technorati DOT com.

Dave

Posted by: David Sifry at September 2, 2005 11:34 AM

Another new whistle on a car with a broken engine.

Posted by: Zoli Erdos at September 2, 2005 2:20 PM

Nope, no more news from my source, other than that he said it would happen. I'm not too concerned either way. I just wish they would get Technorati to work, however that has to happen.

Posted by: B.L. Ochman at September 3, 2005 5:27 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Technorati's Buggy Blog Search Beta Stinks:

Initial Review of Technorati's Blog Finder - Rankings of Blogs by Subject from hyku | blog - Josh Hallett
While battling reliability and scaling issues Technorati is forging ahead with new services. David Sifry announced the launch of their Blog Finder service. The basic premise is to rank blogs by category or technically speaking, by tags. David says in... [Read More]

Tracked on September 2, 2005 9:05 AM

Further Analysis of Technorati's Blog Finder from hyku | blog - Josh Hallett
After my initial review last night I have spent some more time playing around with Technorati's new Blog Finder service. I have also read other reviews by Neville, Tris, Michael and BL Ochman on the new service. To be fair... [Read More]

Tracked on September 2, 2005 11:26 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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