Google re-releases website search as Google Site Search
Written by admin on June 4th, 2008 in devices and gadgets.
Google has released a new version of its hosted website search product that uses their Custom Search platform. The service has been renamed after initially starting out as Google Custom Search Business Edition; it will now simply be called Google Site Search.
Google’s aim with this new release is to bring the site search closer to what you would expect from a standard Google Internet search. In order to achieve that a range of new features have been introduced.
The first of these is the introduction of a Sitemap feature using Google’s Sitemap Protocol. This is an XML file that includes all the URLs of a website, but the webmaster can add additional information about each one allowing for more intelligent searching.
Custom Synonyms have also been introduced that allow webmasters to tag certain search terms and expand what they look for. So, for example, an abbreviation such as “cd” can be tagged to look for other search terms if entered on their site.
Date Biasing and Top Results Biasing add a final level of refinement to the search results presented to the user. Results can be given a date bias so they concentrate more on newer posts and decides whether they are preseneted in date order or not. Top Results biasing allows webmasters to specify that the first X number of results also take into account other factors ensuring the results they want top always make it.
Google are committed to continuing to improve upon Site Search and have said we can expect to see more announcements and new features appearing. Google Site Search costs US$100 a year for up to 5,000 pages and then US$2,250 for up to 300,000 pages.
Read more at the Google Custom Search blog, found via PCWorld.com
Matthew’s Opinion
I’d be interested to hear people’s experiences with the old version of Google’s Site Search and how much of an improvement these new features are.
The price certainly seems reasonable for a year and the new features suggest a lot of customisation is possible on the part of the website. The Top Results Biasing suggests to me that Google is allowing for sites that want paid-for links to appear first as well.
Is there any competition to Google Site Search that can offer the same functionality at a similar price?
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