Programmable Search Engine Blog

The latest news, updates and tips from the Programmable Search Engine team

Custom Search expands to AdSense for Search

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Posted by: Vrishali Wagle and Tom Duerig, Software EngineersAdSense for SearchSitemap Webmaster Tools

Google

Searching for Creative Commons licensed content

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Posted by: Tania Bedrax-Weiss, Software EngineerCC licenses

free_use_share (by-nc-nd)

free_use_share_commercially (by-nd)

free_use_share_modify (by-nc-sa)

free_use_share_modify_commercially (by-sa)

with <rdf:RDF>...</rdf:RDF> in the HTML head or body

using <meta name="DC.rights" content=uri of cc license>

using <a rel="license" href=uri of cc license>

using <rdf:RDF>...</rdf:RDF> in a comment

http://joshua.smcvt.edu/linearalgebra/<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/"> ...Webmaster Central

Google

Labels in Custom Search

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Posted by: Phil Liao, Software Engineerhow to specify URL patternslabelsrefinements

I Love Veggiesrecipes, nutrition, farmer's marketsgrowing tipseggplant recipesRefinementsAdd Refinementpredefined refinementsSitesLabel actionsCustom Search Help Centerhow to choose good refinements

Google

Making the most with AdSense

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Posted by: Talia Brodecki, AdSense Product MarketingIf you're currently making money from CSE with AdSense, here are a few optimization tips to help you improve your current performance. (If you're not already earning money this way, scroll down to learn more about how you can start doing so, using your search box.)

1) Search box placement: Search boxes should be easy to find, typically under the header or on the left navigation bar, to encourage users to simply search for what they're looking for instead of spending time browsing through your content. Try to keep your search box in the same place on every page so users know where to return for future searches.

2) Two search boxes per page: For pages with a lot of content, we recommend placing two search boxes per page - one at the top of the page where users can immediately go to to find what they're looking for and one at the bottom of the page where users can quickly search for something else after reading the content on the page. You can track the performance of each by creating a custom channel.

3) iFRAME: By choosing to host the search results, you can integrate search results and ads within your site so users don't leave your site when they perform a search. If users don't find what they're looking for in the search results, they can easily click to another section of your site through your site's template.

4) Search box on search results page: Remember to place another search box on your search results page in the case that a user wants to perform another search.

5) Ad placement: For better monetization, we recommend choosing to place ads at the top & right of the search results for added visibility.

6) Appearance customization: Customize the search results with your site's colors to match the look and feel.

If you aren't using AdSense, we encourage you to sign up and get paid for every valid click on ads you're already showing. Just go to the Make Money link in the CSE control panel and fill out the short form to sign up for an account. If you already have an AdSense account, you can easily link the two to start earning money immediately.

Now then -- better go figure out what to buy with all that extra cash. ;)

Google

Custom Search on Google Help Centers

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Posted by: Christine Moschella, Online OperationsCustom Search Help Centermain Google Help pagethis one

Google

Specifying patterns for your Custom Search Engine

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Posted by: Vrishali Wagle, Software EngineerURL patternsURL patternsI Love VeggiesI Love Veggies

Be very specific. Use the longest possible pattern for specifying a site. For example, in the "I Love Veggies" search engine, we wanted to search all of www.goveg.com, so we added "www.goveg.com/*" as a pattern. But we wanted to search only the vegetarian part of the "allrecipes.com" site. So instead of adding all of "allrecipes.com/*" we added the more specific "allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/*".

Specify multiple pages in a site with a "*" at the end of the pattern. If you specify just "www.goveg.com", Custom Search will search just the single page http://www.goveg.com. You need to remember this only if you are write your XML file of annotations directly. If you are using the Control Panel, it automatically adds the "/*" at the end for you, unless you indicate otherwise.

Sometimes, you might have a few hosts on a domain with the same path that you want to search. In our example, we wanted to search "mideastfood.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/*" and "indianfood.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/*". In such a case it is better to specify these patterns individually instead of a very general "*.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/*" as more specific the patterns, better the approximation.

You can only use the * in the hostname at the beginning of the pattern and it can only represent a full token. For example, "*.about.com/*" is a valid pattern and so is "*.food.about.com/*". However, "*ood.about.com/*" is not valid, nor is "food.*.about.com/*".