Search engines run the world. Internet world is useless without search engines. You may argue that Facebook is not a search engine. But it's a big search engine. Facebook needs to search appropriate person, place or group for you! When you need to find something, we usually search this either in Google, Bing or Yahoo. But a tiny blog or website should also have a search engine.
Most of the websites and even blogs have a search option. It makes easier to find something in your site. And it could be also helpful for you to search something on your site. In Marks PC Solution, there are more than 300 posts so far. Being the author of the site, sometimes I forget what topics are published here! So how do visitors get something without search box?
If you're using a blogger blog then you should be familiar with the default search box of blogger. You can easily add this from Layout tab through Add a Gadget option. But today I'm gonna talk about Google Custom Search. It's a nice tool by Google that lets you create a custom search engine for your blog or website. Now I'd like to show you the step by step procedure to create a custom search engine for your site. Before that, have a look at the custom search engine of Marks PC Solution- MPS. Let's begin -
- Visit and sign in to Google Custom Search Engine home.
- Hit on the Add button to create a new engine.
- Enter your site's URL in the Sites to search box (ie. http://munnamark.blogspot.com)
- Choose your desired language.
- Type a name in the Name box. (ie. Marks PC Search Engine)
- Hit on the Create button. Done!
If everything is okay, you will get a confirmation message.
- Hit on the Get Code button to get your search engine script.
- Hit on the Public URL to view your search engine page.
- Hit on the Control Panel to edit your search engine settings.
How to Install?
It's as simple as adding a JavaScript!
- First you've to select your search engine.
- Then go to Setup > Basics > Details > Get Code.
- Copy the script and Place it in your template properly.
Example: You've to place the code within the <body> </body> tag. See the structure below. And choose a proper location where you wanna setup the search box.
<html>
<head>
<title>my site</title>
...
<head>
<title>my site</title>
...
<head>
<body>
<div1>...</div1>
</body>
<div1>...</div1>
PASTE THE CODE HERE
<div2>...</div2></body>
</html>
And in blogger, installing the script is much easier. Simply go to the template. And then Add a JavaScript. I suggest you to place it either below the title or at the right side bar.
Customization:
As this is a custom search, you can customize it as your wish. Let's customize -
First go to the Google Custom Search Home. Select your search engine from here. Now you will see a control panel as the image below:
There are different options to customize your search engine. You can go to every option and change settings if necessary. First you can start with Setup option. Here you will get Basics, Make Money, Admin, Indexing etc. You can rename your search engine, give it a description, provide keywords, change language and add more sites to include in your search engine.
In the Make Money option, you can add your AdSense account here. If people use your search box and hit on Ads by Google, you will be paid through AdSense.
In Look and Feel option, you can change the layout and theme. In the customize option, you can change everything as you wish. In thumbnail option, you can choose whether pictures appears with search or not.
I'm not going to extend the post. Because this post has already crossed 600 words! This is a simple topic. I would like to stop here. Explore the custom search engine page and find the features by yourself. And I'm waiting to reply any question from you. Don't forget to leave comments . . .
Nice and Informative Post.
ReplyDeleteYou can also try my Post about Google Custom Search Engine..
How To Add Google Custom Search Box In Your Site
Very simple for others to do, but for me, I'm starting to learn more things. Reading information into some authors helps me to gain knowledge to improve what will be the look of my site and most especially the content of my site.
ReplyDelete