Google is today announcing a series of improvements to its midrange custom search service for websites. As reported by TechCrunch, Google's Custom Search Business Edition has been rebranded Google Site Search and is intended for organisations that want to add Google search functionality to their websites.The three main improvements designed to tempt users include: a provision for synonym matching, results tweaking, and indexing of so-called "dark web" content.
- Synonym matching means that if you run a site that often uses different phrases to describe things or frequently refer to terms by their acronyms, you can upload a list to Google and it will treat them the same when a user searches within your site.
- Results tweaking means that if your website includes news content you can bias the indexed content based on its date, forcing newer pages to appear higher up in the search results. Similarly, if your homepage offers the user the chance to buy products, such as an online retailer, you can give preference for product pages in searches.
- "Dark web" content refers to areas of a website that might typically be overlooked by the standard Google crawler, typically hidden behind forms or only available through intricate database queries. By enabling Google Site Search, the website can use special sitemaps to recognise these pages, making them easier for visitors to find using simple searches.
It's worth remembering that Google Site Search can be visually customised to tie in with the visual design of your site. This isn't a new feature, but one that many site owners using Google Custom Search seem to have missed. When adding Site Search, webmasters can use a WYSIWYG editor or raw XML file to seamlessly add the search function to their sites, even removing the Google branding if they wish.
Google claims Google Mini Search Appliance is "alive and well", despite recent rumours that the search engine would be replacing it with a new hosted solution for indexing content. A smaller and lower-cost version of the Google Search Appliance aimed at the SME business market, Google says it expects organisations to increasingly use the Mini for behind-the-firewall queries with the launch of Google Site Search.
When asked whether Google might eventually provide a hosted solution for indexing private corporate data, company representatives told TechCrunch that it "would hope [they] get to that point" eventually. It all depends on just how willing organisations are to make their data available or hosted indexing.
