By Steve Ragan Jul 17, 2007, 15:50 GMT
Google announced, on Tuesday, the release of Google Custom Search: Business Edition. In short, Google’s custom search is a simple and inexpensive way for small businesses to add Google search to their websites. It takes three steps to setup, and about ten minutes later, businesses are able to have their entire site searched with the same speed and power of Google’s own index.
“Millions of businesses have a web presence but offer users no ability to search their site,” said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager, Google Enterprise. “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. 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.”
The Custom Search Business Edition builds on the Google Custom Search Engine (a hosted search solution introduced in October 2006) by adding business integration features through an XML API, the option to turn off ads, a more customized look and feel, as well as email and phone support.
The three steps to get started are not what most business owners will expect, mostly they are cosmetic, as Google takes care of the major work. First, businesses need to identify the site or sites to search, telling Google to index either all or just some of the sites content. Second, businesses will add the search box and customize the appearance by adding logo and matching the site's look and feel. Finally, customize the search results with refinements that reflect site content such as sectional groupings.
The hosted search option offers all of the same features as businesses have grown to know and love about Google.com. With a custom XML API, the results of the hosted search can be customized, allowing for solid and streamlined integration into the company website.
“The number of referrals generated to our homeowner base has increased by approximately thirty percent, and at the same time, the number of customer service requests has also significantly decreased,” said Andy Steggles, president of Holiday Home Rental, an online directory of twenty-five thousand holiday rental homes with more than one hundred fifty thousand pages of content powered by the custom search API.
Custom Search Business Edition starts at $100 a year for searching up to five thousand pages, or $500/year for up to fifty thousand pages. Larger volumes of pages are supported through Google's enterprise sales group. The Custom Search Business Edition joins other search offerings from the Google enterprise group including the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini, both of which offer additional control over crawl depth and timing, as well as secure access to internal documents.
For more information or to sign up visit http://google.com/enterprise/csbe
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