Considered by many to be the most comprehensive Internet message database of all time, the Usenet archive includes some 700 million messages on more than 35,000 topics. The integration has helped Google reach the 3 billion document mark, the company said this week.

"To search our collection of 3 billion documents by hand, it would take 5,707 years, searching 24 hours per day, at one minute per document," said Google founder and president of products Larry Page. "With Google, it takes less than a second."

Deja Problems Forgotten

The Mountain View, California-based company came under fire in February when it purchased the Deja.com database, which was then the only archive of Usenet newsgroup conversations, which range from intellectual discussions on the birth of the Internet to raves about popular culture and amateur pornography.

There was concern that one company should perhaps not be trusted with such a rich and complete historical chronicle. However, Google said the features it has added to the database, which allow users to post new messages to old discussions, have quieted criticism.

"As soon as we put the features back in, the feedback turned around 180 degrees," Google spokesman David Krane told NewsFactor Network earlier this year.

Going Back With Groups

The Usenet archive has now been integrated into a new feature called Google Groups, which archives new and old Web discussions into groupings for business, news, computers, social issues, miscellaneous and more.

While the Internet postings include recent discussions on recent topics, they go back to the early days of Usenet, which dates to 1981.

"The Google Groups Usenet archive reveals a detailed view into two decades of history -- that's 10 years' worth of content that existed before the birth of the Web," said Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president of technology.

Sordid Spam Past

Although it would be hard to argue that the Usenet archive and its discussions are not entertaining, Forrester analyst Paul Hagen told NewsFactor Network that the discussions were "watered down by spam ," as marketers seized the opportunity to reach Internet users.

"Over time, [Usenet] became the target of every marketer that wanted to reach those audiences," Hagen said. "There was as much spam as useful information."

Hagen, who said he was somewhat surprised that Google purchased the Usenet database, claimed that private discussion groups on specific topics such as software were a more valuable resource in terms of content.

Refreshing For Relevance

Still, Google announced enhancements to its search engine aimed at relevance, in conjunction with the older archived and newer discussions of Google Groups.

News links that are relevant to search topics are displayed at the top of the results page, a feature the company claims was popular when tested.

Google says it is also refreshing "millions of web pages every day to ensure that Google users have access to the most current information."