(1)
Adsense for search (www.google.com/adsense/ws-overview)
Adsense for
Search might be a good option
if you want to add search to
your site and perhaps earn
some revenue in the process.
It's extremely easy to set
up, particularly if you are
already signed up for Google
Adsense. You can choose from
among several configuration
options, including whether
you want the search results
to come from your site only,
a group of sites that you
select, or the entire web.
One of
Google's screens has a link
to "access more advanced
features", which will
convert this option into a
"Google Custom Search
Engine" (which I will
describe later in this
article).
[Adsense
for search used to create a
search box where the user
could choose whether they
wanted to search your site or
the entire web, but this is
no longer true with the new
code that Google provides
(although the old code still
works to a degree). There's a
good discussion about this on
Webmaster World here]
(2)
Google site search (www.google.com/sitesearch/)
Site search
gives your site a
Google-powered search
function without displaying
any ads. Unlike, Adsense for
search, you have to pay
Google to use it. Currently
the price starts at $100 per
year for sites with up to
1000 pages, with a limit of
250,000 queries per year.
Sites with more pages cost
more, and in some cases have
a higher search query limit.
Google site
search lets you select a
limited number of pages on
your site for rapid indexing
(within 24 hours) and gives
you control over some other
aspects of how search works
on your site as well.
(3)
Google custom search (www.google.com/cse/)
Like
Adsense for search, Google
custom search is free and
gives you a chance to earn
some Adsense revenue from the
ads on the searches that
result. Alternatively you can
pay Google a fee to deliver
ad-free results, as in the
case of Google site search.
It's easy to get a Google
custom search engine up and
running with very effort, but
if you want to put more
thought and time into it,
there a variety of options
you can use to make it even
better.
As in the
case of Adsense for Search
you can set your custom
search engine to search one
or more sites that you select
or you can set it to search
the entire web. You can also
set your search engine to
search the entire web but
emphasize the sites that you
select. Another handy feature
is that you can exclude
certain sites. This is useful
for filtering out sites that
are low quality or irrelevant
to an area you are trying to
target with your search
engine.
Some of the
many additional features
available to you are:
- an
option to include
keywords to describe the
focus of your search
engine and increase the
relevancy of its search
results.
- the
ability to invite up to
100 other people to
collaborate with you.
- various
"look and feel"
choices you can make to
customize your search
engine's appearance.
- a
handy preview feature so
you can try out your
search engine to see if
it looks and behaves the
way you want it to.
- a
"my search
engines" page that
gives you a listing of
all of your custom search
engines (you can have
more than one).
- basic
stats: number of queries
over day, week, month, or
overall; popular queries
(if any) over the
selected time period.
One of the
uses for which Google custom
search is particularly
well-suited is the creation
of search engines focusing on
a specialized niche. By
including and excluding sites
and/or choosing the right
keywords, you can greatly
influence the search results
that a query will produce.
For an example of some niche
custom search engines, feel
free to try out the custom
art search engines that I've
made available from this page.
