Google Custom Search: My search, my results
Originally posted in Pinoy Money Talk:
Wouldn’t it be great to use a search engine that shows results tailored to what you want and what you need? Something customizable to fit your site but still powerful enough to give relevant results? And wouldn’t it be awesome to earn money from the search results?
The good news is Google’s Custom Search Engine (CSE) is exactly that. In October this year, Google launched CSE that lets site owners and members use a customized Google-powered search engine that prioritizes or restricts results based on what they want.
Think Google Search and digg combined. Site owners can invite their friends and trusted members of the community to add to and help build the search engine. Search results are then based on what these people find relevant.
Of course, other search results still appear, but those from “prioritized” sites are ranked higher because of supposed relevance.
The search engine can even be tweaked to show results only from specific sites. Selfish and egotistic? Partly (LOL). But relevant and useful to members of the community? Definitely.
Creating your own Google Custom Search Engine is very easy, just use Google’s wizard in www.google.com/coop/cse.
Here’s how to do it:
- Visit www.google.com/coop/cse and specify the websites you’d like to include or exclude from your search engine. You can also choose to give those pages and sites higher priority and precedence.
- Test your new engine out and if you like what you see, generate the code and paste it on your web site or blog.
- To customize the engine to fit your site, use the customization functions in the “My search engines” page. The control panel lets you edit the look and feel of the search engine and results pages, refine searches, preview results, and link to a Google Adsense account, among others.
- Invite members of your community to contribute to the search engine index to make results more relevant to them.
Happy searching!
About the Author
Pinoy Money Talk is an online community of Filipinos involved in various online and offline investment and money-making opportunities.
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