Google Search, Right on Your Blog…
December 3, 2008 by Robert A. Gibbs
Filed under Beginner Blogger
Sometimes, especially with blogs, you want to give your readers
the opportunity to search your site with a “Google style” search. Well, in the interest of sharing, Google will allow you to configure a search widget that will search only your site. Go to Google.com>more>even more then custom search. It will allow you to configure a search bar however you would like.
Keep in mind that studies have shown that people prefer to browse your site for information and that if they did find you via a search engine search, they’ll want to see what they were looking for within about 2-3 clicks. If they are using the custom search, you may need better navigation.
Happy Holidays!
Rob the Tech Guy
I think any blog should have a search function on it. Something like this (The Google widget) that will filter results from your content and your content only. This is one solution…
Anyone on here using Lijit? It’s pretty cool because it integrates your accounts across various networks (Youtube, Delicious, Flickr, your RSS Feed, etc.). It’s a custom search widget that produces a result from your content across all these networks. It’s pretty cool and their stats feature is awesome too! They give you a breakdown of the keywords people are using to reach your content, a list of people who’s blogroll you’re on and more. And it’s FREE! That always works too!
Just a suggestion, google search is ok however a good old a-z or a sitemap is just as useful.
However good article and thanks for sharing
Ricardo,
I have not used Lijit…although I’m going to check it out now. That is one of the biggest concerns people that I talk to have. Too many logins.
David,
You are not only correct, but a sitemap is incredibly important for SEO as well. A good one will ensure that every page on your site can be found from the first page and thereby indexed by search engines. Blogs usually do that by providing a category list and then making sure every post is categorized.
Thanks to you both!
Rob
@Ricardo Bueno - I am using Lijit on one of my blogs and the best feature is that I get an update once a week in my inbox. That is convenient and I like convenient!