(10)
Go to Google.com and click on the "more" menu and just above the YouTube link, you will see the link to "Realtime."
As you know, clicking on that link will lead you to a dead page. So why didn't Google remove it? I do not know why but I can venture some guesses.
(1) They didn't get around to it yet?
(2) The deal broke off with Twitter so unexpectedly they were stunned and go back to item 1.
(3) Google ticked off Twitter with the launch of Google + which caused 2 and led to 1.
(4) Google has plans to get Twitter deal back very soon and doesn't want to bother dropping it from the menu.
(5) Google has no plans to get Twitter back and plans on replacing it with Google + data very soon.
Those are some of my theories but again, I don't have any more information than you have.
One thing Google did add was a notice that when you go to a legacy realtime search result page (yes, I save URLs of search result pages), you get a message that the results are no longer available.
Anyway, I am terribly missing the realtime Google results so I hope they come back soon.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Google Webmaster Help.
Comments:
blogbrevity
07/06/2011 01:26 pm
In the meantime, @Topsy is a great alternative to disabled google realtime search: http://bit.ly/kyqqe4 :)
Athar Basha
07/06/2011 05:09 pm
What G is gonna do with that .. why can't they remove it when the contract was expired with Twitter. Are they planning something else for that ?/)
David Burdon
07/06/2011 10:49 pm
Real-time results are still there. They're just not under "Realtime" any more.
Barry Schwartz
07/06/2011 10:51 pm
No, you are wrong.
Bas van den Beld
07/07/2011 09:39 am
It's really gone now, apparently negotiations aren't going that fast ;)
David Burdon
07/07/2011 10:10 am
Barry, I wrote a blog post that appeared in Google almost as soon as I could check it. Effectively 3 minutes. I'm not saying the "Realtime" product still exists. Merely that Google, post Caffeine, still functions in a real-time time frame.
Barry Schwartz
07/07/2011 10:12 am
I know but Realtime search is searching content produced in real time via real time content platforms, such as Twitter. Yea, Google indexes web content in almost real time.
David Burdon
07/07/2011 10:25 am
Agree. Thanks.
Bal
07/07/2011 05:59 pm
its gone! what a load of sh1t... twitter is blocked at work and that was the only way to get updates!!! damn google... turning into microsoft!
Johnm
07/14/2011 08:27 pm
This is very disappointing. I used Realtime all the time and I'm so ticked that they took it away. I like Google but sometimes they go too far!