Message Board Search
I've posted a few times on this blog about the message board search space. In this post, I'd like to bring together a summary of the main tools that are out there.
- BoardTracker : search over message boards only, search for threads or authors, results page directs traffic to the original board. Results can be sorted by relevance or by date. Author profile information is available, linked from the search results page.
- Itch search over message boards, news headlines and blogs, search for threads, results page directs traffic to original board.
- OMGILI : search over message boards only, search for threads, results page directs traffic to original board.
- BoardReader : search over message boards only (note that they used to have a blog search tab but it was never delivered and has now been removed), search for posts, results page directs traffic to original board.
- Lycos Discussion Search : search over message boards only (including Yahoo! Groups and MSN Groups), search for posts, results page directs traffic to original board.
In terms of volume, precise comparison is difficult. However, BoardTracker is reasonably far ahead of the rest, all of whom are reasonably comparable.
All of the sites except for BoardReader have some form of advertisement in their search results.
In addition to standard features, BoarderTracker offers a number of subscription based capabilities that allow for more detailed analysis and tracking of conversation in the board space. BoardReader can be contacted for advanced solutions which are not described on their site. These two sites also offer features for message board hosts that increase the value returned via the search engine results page and in terms of content acquisition.
In addition, GYM each have some form of group/discussion search over their own message board formats.
Just what I was searching for, glad I found your post very useful. ;)
Posted by: Michigan message board | December 17, 2006 at 10:54 PM