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Tag: Google Site Search

  • Google Simplifies Site Search Ownership Transfers

    Google Simplifies Site Search Ownership Transfers

    Google has made it easier for Google Site Search users to transfer ownership to different users, after numerous requests to do so. Software engineer Yong Zhu explains on the Google Custom Search blog:

    For instance, you may have created, developed and customized your website’s search experience under your Google account, but want the long-term management of the search engine to be performed by someone else. In the past, you would have been required to manually export the configuration, import it into a new Site Search instance and then cancel the old instance.

    Now, you can very easily transfer the ownership of a Site Search engine to a new user by simply specifying a different Google account email address in the Business Settings tab in the control panel.

    Transfer ownership of site search

    After a user provides their account info for the new admin, a new site search engine is actually created, using the same configuration as the current site search engine. Additionally, the new engine will be officially owned and able to be administered by the new owner.

    Google says any unused query quota is transferred to the new site search engine, which will show the transfer history in the business settings in the control panel. Users can still continue to use the old engine, but ads may be displayed alongside search results, and XML access is disabled.

    Google also makes a couple of recommendations for new owners after the transfer takes place: review and update admin details in the business settings (license renewal notifications are sent to the email address provided), and edit the search box code on your content pages where Google Site Search is integrated, in order to replace the old search engine ID with the new one.

  • Google Site Search Pricing Changes

    A complicated pricing structure does few people any favors.  Businesses just risk annoying or alienating potential customers who don’t feel like pulling out three spreadsheets and a graphing calculator in order to predict their bill.  So it may be a good thing that Google Site Search gained a simpler pricing structure today.

    A post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog explained, "To date, we’ve charged for Google Site Search based on both the number of submitted search queries and the number of pages indexed.  We noticed that many of our users had a difficult time estimating the number of pages included in the scope of their search engine, so we are introducing a new pricing system that factors only the quantity of submitted queries your Google Site Search engine receives each year."

    You can see the price sheet for yourself below.  With just three columns and six rows (counting the heading), it’s pretty easy to read.

    Then here’s one other important point: Google says it isn’t using this change as an opportunity to sneak a price hike past everyone.  The blog posted stated, "The vast majority of our users will be unaffected and many will even begin paying less when the new prices take effect upon their annual renewal."

    So current Google Site Search users should remain satisfied, and perhaps a few mathematically challenged business owners will now decide to strike up a relationship with the product.

  • JibJab Turns To Google Site Search

    A brand that seems to make a splash at least every few months, getting its videos featured on all sorts of blogs, talk shows, and news programs, has picked Google as a search provider.  As a result, Google Site Search now powers JibJab.com.

    Chris Poe, JibJab’s engineering director, wrote a short guest post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog this afternoon to explain the development.  The overarching reason was simple: "This, hopefully, will allow our visitors to find more of what they’re looking for on our site – good laughs!"

    As for some more specific details, Poe wrote, "[W]e chose Google Site Search for its ability to help users find the perfect eCard or video, fast, while allowing our developers to control the look and feel of the results.  We also appreciated the fact that Google Site Search provided XML results for full customization of each search query, and gave us a hands-free search solution that requires little-to-no custom maintenance."

    The Google/JibJab combo sounds like a win for JibJab, then, and the timing of this move is also hard to fault.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas aren’t too far off, after all, and JibJab is almost sure to release more viral videos to celebrate.

    Unfortunately, neither Google nor JibJab disclosed any financial particulars or got into traffic expectations.

    Still, the development should be at least be a symbolic win for Google given JibJab’s high profile.