Now that Google has become the Microsoft of the internet age, a cottage industry has sprung up of blogs devoted to covering everything that the search giant does. One of the better and more popular efforts is Google Blogoscoped which comes with the tagline "contains 80 per cent Google".

It is largely the work of Philipp Lenssen, a German web developer who has been publishing the site almost daily since 2003. The blog has even spawned a book by Lenssen, 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google.

Posts fall into three main categories - tips and information for Google users, discussions of Google's business and trivia that could only appeal to the confirmed Google fan (pictures of Lego installations in the Google New York office anyone?).

Those already relying heavily on Google to drive traffic to their website are probably aware of Blogoscoped - and if they aren't, they should familiarise themselves quickly.

The site is particularly strong on covering Google's advertising program AdWords (the sponsored links that appear when you do a search) and provides a treasure trove of data for those investing money in that programme.

The 20 per cent of Lenssen's output that doesn't relate to Google covers its major competitors such as Amazon and Yahoo but he also devotes his attention to online privacy - an area of Google's business that seems to come in for more than its fair share of criticism.

One feature of Blogoscoped that could be enhanced is navigation of the site. Why not provide links for posts in different categories so that Google users don't have trawl through posts about the company's business? But in its favour it has a very usable search feature which makes it easy to find older posts in an area of interest.

Given that even the casual internet user has some interaction with Google's products or services, Blogoscoped fulfils a useful function by meticulously tracking developments at the dominant player.

Google Blogoscoped. http://blogoscoped.com/