Time is one of the most significant factors when conducting business or professional research. When conducting a search on a business, a product, a scientific topic, a person, or virtually any search topic, time plays an essential factor in the quality of the search results you obtain.
When using Google NASDAQ:GOOG (www.google.com) you can use one of seven time filters, including three new time filters. Bing NASDAQ:MSFT (www.bing.com) does not have the functionality to allow users to sort results based on time.
Boost eLearning (www.boostelearning.com) has conducted an extensive review of the search functionality of Google and Bing. As a result of recent changes that Google has implemented in its functionality to Search by time, Boost eLearning has updated the Boost eLearning Google Search Training Timeline Lesson.
Boost eLearning confirmed with Bing Technical Support, and as you can clearly see below, that at this time Bing does not support the ability to filter results based on time.
The following is a report of Boost eLearning’s analysis of Google Search Functionality based on time.
All of the time filters are powerful tools to limit results to highly relevant information based on time. Boost eLearning is uniquely impressed by the power of the new Timeline filter.
Using the Timeline filter you are presented a bar graph of dates that you can select. For example, you can search your topic of choice from 1909 to 2009. The bar graph will have bars for each year with indexed content. When you click on a year, it will then display results by month. When you click on the month it will expand and present all results for that month. This in-depth sorting by month is available for any month where content is indexed by Google.
Google indexes over One Trillion URL’s. The ability to obtain your results by time is exceedingly powerful for any type of business research. The Timeline feature is new as part of standard Google. It was available for some time in the experimental labs as can be seen below.
All of the time filters are powerful tools to limit results to highly relevant information based on time. Boost eLearning is uniquely impressed by the power of the new Timeline filter.
Using the Timeline filter you are presented a bar graph of dates that you can select. For example, you can search your topic of choice from 1909 to 2009. The bar graph will have bars for each year with indexed content. When you click on a year, it will then display results by month. When you click on the month it will expand and present all results for that month. This in-depth sorting by month is available for any month where content is indexed by Google.
Google indexes over One Trillion URL’s. The ability to obtain your results by time is exceedingly powerful for any type of business research. The Timeline feature is new as part of standard Google. It was available for some time in the experimental labs as can be seen below.
The version that is now available is highly refined and more powerful tool for the professional seeking to obtain high value information where time is a factor. As can be seen below, the time line feature no longer has a “show results circa” box as the results are now presented nearly exactly with their true date. In addition, the user no longer needs to type view:timeline into the search bar in order to access the time line view.
In addition Google allows one to search by:
1. Recent- This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result. This filter is new and takes advantage of the functionality of Google Caffeine. This filter is also responsive to Twitter, providing results on Google that may be just a few minutes old.
2. Past 24 Hours – Limits results to last 24 hours – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the past 24 hours
3. Past Week – Limits results to past week – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to the most current week.
4. Past Month – Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last month.
5. Past Year - Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last year.
The above features are demonstrated in the image below:
1. Recent- This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result. This filter is new and takes advantage of the functionality of Google Caffeine. This filter is also responsive to Twitter, providing results on Google that may be just a few minutes old.
2. Past 24 Hours – Limits results to last 24 hours – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the past 24 hours
3. Past Week – Limits results to past week – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to the most current week.
4. Past Month – Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last month.
5. Past Year - Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last year.
The above features are demonstrated in the image below:
6. Specific Date Range – This option lets you limit your results to the exact date range that is relevant to your search. This filter is also new. This filter is extremely valuable and easy to use when the desired search results are between two specific dates, as can be seen below:
The web is a direct marketing medium. Results are presented based on relevance and heavily impacted by Search Engine Optimization, an area of heavy investment by many corporations. However, when performing research you most likely are seeking information about a person, product, company, event, or service. To effectively find high value information Google has 9 Filters and 5 Operators that empower the user with the functionality to perform highly targeted search. The ability to search by time is just one powerful example of the power of Google for business research.
Google Search is a Powerful Tool for Business Research. Knowledge workers seeking to effectively find high value information can utilize Google Search filters and operators to dramatically improve search results.
Google Search is a Powerful Tool for Business Research. Knowledge workers seeking to effectively find high value information can utilize Google Search filters and operators to dramatically improve search results.
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