Google Rolls Out Custom Search

Google will allow its search engine to be customized, enabling a Web site owner to focus the site's vast information into search results more relevant for its users. Along with its ability to generate revenue through ads, a Web site owner can also change the look to match their own site, Google said.

The Mountain View, Calif. company says it has received many comments from partners requesting that it offer such a feature. In addition, Google will allow friends and community members to add to and help build the customized product.

"Finding specific information has never been so easy, and there's no programming knowledge or cost involved," Google Co-op team members Shashi Seth and R.V. Guha wrote in the Google Blog. "We worked with a few initial partners to demonstrate the power of the customization features."

Some of the examples of the initial testing phase include a search for environmental science information on realclimate.org, a small business-focused search on Intuit's JumpUp.com, and even a wine search engine created for Seth's personal weblog.

Quick customization is done through selecting keywords and a list of sites that the publisher wishes to include. In addition, sites can be excluded from search results. At the end of customization, code is generated that can host the results on a user's own site, the company said.

While the feature is only available in the United States currently, Google has plans to expand it internationally in the coming weeks.

Analysts had mixed feelings on the service. "It is a clever idea on Google's part," pundit Om Malik said. "However, the problem is that they are not giving any real incentive for people to do that." He pointed to the AdSense revenue share -- the same as those who participate in just that program itself -- to back up his claims.