Announcement
October 23, 2006
Today, Google is launching the Google Custom Search Engine, a new way to bring tailored search to websites and blogs. In just minutes, anyone can use the Google search platform to create a search engine focused on any content they like – from Hollywood heartthrobs, to favorite sports team, to personal hobbies, and more.
Google Custom Search Engines empower users to choose which pages they want to include in their index, how the content should be prioritized, whether others can contribute to their index, and what the search results page will look like. With this launch, we’re extending the power of Google search beyond Google.com.
A number of sites have already created Custom Search Engines. For example, Intuit’s JumpUp.com site, which provides information and resources to small businesses, is combining a Custom Search Engine with its years of experience in small business to provide the most useful resources on the Web to its users. Or take RealClimate.org, a site that offers expert opinion on the science of climate change. They have created a searchable subset of the Web to provide reliable scientific information to its visitors. In a more everyday use of the product, users can create search engines pointing their friends to sites about their favorite pop stars and place them on their personal homepages.
"We want to make it easy for anyone to create a search engine about all of their favorite topics, without needing a Ph.D.," said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience. "Everyone – businesses, organizations, moms, dads, teenagers, and teachers – can harness the power of Google technology to create a personalized search experience that reflects specific knowledge and interests."
Here’s how a Custom Search Engine works: organizations or individuals simply go to www.google.com/coop/cse and select the websites or pages they’d like to include in their search index. Users can choose to restrict their search results to include only those pages and sites, or they can give those pages and sites higher priority and ranking within the larger Google index for their site. Users can then customize the look, feel and functionality of their search engine.
Custom Search Engines are monetized through the Google AdSense program so they can even generate revenue with it. Universities, non-profits and government organizations can choose not to run ads on their search results if they’d rather not.
Google Custom Search Engine is available at www.google.com/coop/cse. We plan to expand the offering internationally in the coming weeks.
Some comments from our partners:
JumpUp.com from Intuit
"Finding the most useful resources on the web is a challenge for small businesses," said Lisa Gevelber, general manager of Quicken Small Business. "That’s why we created JumpUp.com and added Google Custom Search Engine. We combined Google’s technology with our nearly 15 years of small business experience to evaluate and select the most useful small business resources on the web and provide them to JumpUp.com users."
RealClimate
"RealClimate.org is a site that tries to give credible expert opinion on the science of climate change. Unfortunately, since this topical subject has become rather politicized, the quality of information available on the web is very variable, ranging from the excellent to the atrocious. With the Custom Google Search facility, we are able to create a searchable subset of the web that in our expert judgment provides solid and reliable information. Hopefully, it will allow users to get to the good stuff faster, without some of the confusion that currently occurs." – Gavin Schmidt, RealClimate
Macworld
"Macworld is excited to implement Google’s Custom Search as our site’s search engine," said Jason Snell, Vice President and Editorial Director of Mac Publishing, LLC. "Implementing Google Custom Search for our site took very little time, and we expect it to improve our site’s traffic by dramatically improving our users’ search experience."
Penton Media, Inc.
"Utilizing the Google Custom Search Engine, Excavator gets immediate results for the user while acting as a filter for unwanted information. The topic targeting and site filtering has created an all-in-one opportunity to find independent Microsoft news, product information, and resources that have been technically vetted by Windows IT Media content experts," said Chad Phelps, Group Director of eMedia, Windows IT Pro / SQL Server Magazine / MSD2D. "We have an unparalleled network of sites available to us, all of which we’ve made accessible through Excavator in conjunction with the Google Custom Search Engine."
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