Google Refines News Search

[web-designer]

Google improves technology for searching daily news.
By Stefanie Olsen (June 22, 2003)

Google's new service, called Advanced News Search, allows visitors to scour headlines by date, location, exact phrases or publication. People can use it retrieve articles from more than 4,500 news outlets publishing on the Web.

Advanced News Search adds to the company's ever-expanding set of Web navigation tools and improves on its specialty index, Google News, which was introduced last fall. For example, Google released a new browser toolbar last month that lets people block pop-up ads and easily update their blogs as they surf the Web. For its part, Google News has proved immensely popular, with roughly 2.5M unique visitors in June, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Advanced News Search lets visitors search for headlines using several parameters. Among other features, people can locate stories that contain an exact phrase, within the Unites States or abroad, or written by a specific publisher such as The New York Times. For now, it only allows people to search by date from June and July 2003.

Still, Google's news update follows advancements at rival search sites. AltaVista, for example, allows visitors to search by region, time frame and publication. In addition, specialty sites such as NewsNow search more than 10,000 news sources, in comparison with Google's 4,500.