Google Launches Custom Search Business Edition

Jul 17, 2007 at 12:01am ET by Chris Sherman

Google has announced a beefed-up version of Google Custom Search, a site search product aimed at small and medium sized businesses. The new service is hosted by Google and offers all of the same functionality of the free Google Custom Search product, with a few key differences:

Customized search results. You can change the look and feel of search results to match the underlying design of a website, using a relatively straightforward XML API provided by Google.

Optional ads. With the free version of Google Custom Search, Google displays ads alongside search results. With the Business Edition, ads in search results are optional.

Dedicated enterprise support. The new service offers both email & phone support,

Optional Google branding. Don’t want the Google logo on your search results? You can easily turn it off.

Custom Search Business Edition starts at $100 a year for searching up to 5,000 pages and extends to $500 for 50,000 pages. Larger volumes of pages are supported through Google’s enterprise sales group. For smaller sites, businesses can sign up using a credit card for payment, and get a site search up and running quickly using a simple online interface.

To see an example of Google Custom Search Business Edition in action, see Holiday Home Rental, an online directory of 25,000 holiday rental homes with more than 150,000 pages of content. More information about the new service at the Google Custom Search Engine page.

Chris Sherman is Executive Editor of SearchEngineLand.com and President of Searchwise LLC, a Boulder Colorado based Web consulting firm. He also programs and co-chairs the Search Marketing Expo - SMX conference series.

See more articles by Chris Sherman >

Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:

See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Google: Custom Search Engine, Google: Enterprise Search, Site & Enterprise Search sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!

FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!

Stay on top of all the search news with our daily summary, the SearchCap newsletter. View a sample ›

STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY

The Search Engine Land feed keeps you informed as news happens. SEE ALL FEEDS »

Kwyjibo, July 17th, 2007 at 1:06 pm ET:

I’m seeing different pricing on their FAQ page here:http://www.google.com/support/customsearch/bin/answer.py?answer=72334&topic=11504

“Google Custom Search Business Edition costs $100 per year for websites of up to 5,000 web pages, and $500 per year for websites of up to 50,000 pages.”

Kimber Cook, July 17th, 2007 at 3:30 pm ET:

I can’t seem to figure out what the big deal is. The only differences I see between this and the regular Google Custom Search is that you can create the look and feel and remove the ads. OK, but if you’re a business with a website, why not just have your programmer code a search for your site?

Google Launches Custom Search Business Edition

FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!

STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Get Your Search Engine Land Premium Membership!

Get Your Search Engine Land
Premium Membership!