Manually add a date code to Web pages for Google use. Date range searching using the Google search engine is not effective because the date stamp attached to each Web page has little value. The date stamp is attached to each page by Google and is simply the indexing date. This date is often renewed automatically several times a year by the Google indexer software and in each case, the date is updated.

If each web page owner would periodically include an official, Google-published, date code on the header of each page on his web site each month, this would serve as a valid search term for date range searching. If this were done, in many cases, owners would look at each page they date stamp and decide if the information is currently valid and if publication of the page should continue.

Once this practice starts to gain popularity, owners of Web pages would begin to realize that most people are only searching for and reaching pages with this new date stamp and then page owners would have the incentive to date stamp each of their pages according to this new system.

To prove the ineffectiveness of the current Google date range search situation, do the following: 1) Open Google and then do an Advance Search. In the pane opposite "this exact phrase" enter "liederkranz cheese". Then click on the Google Search button. If you had done this test on April 11, 2004 you would have gotten 129 hits. Now:2) Repeat the above Advance Search with this additional selection criteria: In the pane opposite the phrase "Return web pages updated in the" select "past 3 months." If you had done this test on April 11, 2004 you would also have gotten the same number of hits--129. It should be noted here that liederkranz cheese is an extinct product and virtually no news has developed on this product in several years.

Here's how the date coding could work. Google would publish the date code for the month in some sort of nonsense string like "2wjjq" in some area of their home page and clearly indicate that this is the date code for the month. Google would also configure the date coding so that a computer could not simply read it each month and install it in the Web pages. They would do this by using varied placement of the code and by varying the language in which it is stated.

Refer to the book "Google Hacks" published by O'Reilly, pages 34 to 37, for additional information on date range searches.

Maybe Google can change the design of their indexer so that date range searches will be more effective. Until and unless that time occurs, my proposed system above would make date range searching effective.

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