Custom search for business with Google 'œHosted Site Search'

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 18 July 2007 11:34

Opinion and Analysis

Small businesses wanting to give customers the ability to quickly and accurately search their website can now turn to Google’s ‘Custom Search Business Edition’ to make it possible at an affordable yearly cost.

If you’re running a small business and have a website packed with useful information, chances are that your site doesn’t have inbuilt search capabilities, and even if it does, chances are that the search function simply isn’t as good as Google’s.

Google is aiming to change this by offering small businesses the ability to add the power of Google’s search to their websites in three steps taking less than 10 minutes, offering more relevant results and plenty of other features, without needing to install or maintain any new servers as Google’s offerings are, as you’d expect, fully hosted.

Dave Girouard, the VP and GM of Google Enterprise, said in a statement that “Millions of businesses have a web presence but offer users no ability to search their site. While many of these businesses invest in search advertising and search engine optimization to help customers find their business, customers are left on their own to navigate content once they land on a site”.

Girouard continued that: “As Google continues to make search technology more accessible to businesses of all sizes -- first with our appliances and now with hosted search services -- we are reducing the hurdles of cost, complexity and time so that small businesses can help customers find what they need every step of the way."

There are two versions of Google’s Custom Search, a ‘Business Edition’, and a ‘Small Business Edition”.

“Business Edition” customers can take advantage of Google’s Custom Search by identifying which site(s) they want to include in the search results, and choose whether to search all the content on those sites, or selectively search through content.

Google provides the code to add a ‘search box’ to your site, letting you customize its appearance by adding your logo and making adjustments to match the ‘look and feel’ of your site.

Google says that search results can be highly customized, allowing companies to refine search results to “reflect site content”, giving sectional groupings as an example.

“Small Business Edition” customers are wooed by Google through having the site search fully hosted by Google, meaning no new technology is needed to be installed at the customer’s end, backed up by Google’s massive infrastructure. In addition, Google are promising the same kind of “sub-second” query response times and relevant results that you expect from Google.

Small businesses wanting extra flexibility can “easily set up, purchase, and manage results online”, have full customization of search results through an XML API, have access to reports that give businesses insights into customer behavior, can choose whether to include ads in search results or not and have access to email and phone support from Google.

Google says that the “Custom Search Business Edition” costs US $100 per year sites up to 5,000 pages, and goes up to US $500 per year for sites up to 50,000 pages, with larger sites still being sent to Google’s Enterprise sales group for a quote. 

So, Google continues developing additional streams of income that are unrelated to advertising revenue, giving businesses a better way to interact with their customers. It’s yet another Google win-win!