A lot of the innovation in search these days is all about What’s happening right now? Twitter is the poster child where real-time search is concerned, and despite its ongoing spam problem, Twitter Trends has become one of the primary places to get a snapshot of what’s happening now.

Google Blog Search is getting in the game with its announcement today of “Hot Queries,” a new addition that appears in the upper right corner of the Google Blog Search home page. It shows 10 queries that are “happening now” — or, “currently popular” in Google’s words — in Blog Search. What we don’t know is if the list is ranked in actual order, or randomized; and we don’t know how often the Hot Queries list is refreshed.

That’s not the only new addition to the Google Blog Search home page; right below Hot Queries is a section called “Latest Posts,” which shows (and links to) 10 recent posts from “popular blogs.” Google hasn’t given any indication how it chooses which blogs to feature in this space.

Perhaps the most utilitarian new addition to Google Blog Search is RSS and Atom feeds that let users subscribe to any topic or story. Links for those are in the left column.

Lastly, there’s also an iGoogle Gadget that lets users embed the Google Blog Search home page on their iGoogle page.

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Blog Search

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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