Google Introduces Hosted Site Search for Small Businesses

Google announced yesterday about the release of Google Custom Search Business Edition (CSBE), a simple and inexpensive way for small businesses to add Google search to their websites.

CSBE is a hosted site search solution that provides Google-quality results for your website. It's fast, relevant, reliable, and flexible, so that users can quickly find what they're looking for through search results customized and integrated into your business website.

With Google Custom Search Business Edition, you can put a Google search box on your website - and let visitors access search results from any website or websites that you choose.

In three simple steps, businesses can sign up online for the hosted service, and in less than 10 minutes customers and visitors are able to search their site using the power of Google's search technology, for more relevant results.

To set up the Custom Search Business Edition, businesses simply:

1. Identify the site(s) to search, and select either all or selective searching of content
2. Add the search box and customize the appearance by adding logo and matching the site's look and feel
3. Further customize search results with refinements that reflect site content (such as sectional groupings)

With the Custom Search Business Edition, small businesses get:

• Site search hosted by Google, eliminating the need to install and maintain their own technology
• Power and reliability of Google's infrastructure
• Relevant results and sub-second query response times characteristic of Google.com
• Ability to easily set up, purchase, and manage results online
• Full customization of search results available through an XML API
• Reporting features that give insight into visitor behaviors
• Options for email and phone support available through the Google Enterprise group
• Choice about whether to include ads or not
  

Custom Search Business Edition starts at $100 a year for searching up to 5,000 pages, and extends to $500/year for up to 50,000 pages. Larger volumes of pages are supported through Google's enterprise sales group.

The Custom Search Business Edition builds on the Google Custom Search Engine (a hosted search solution introduced in October 2006) by adding business integration features through an XML API, the option to turn off ads, a more customized look and feel, as well as email and phone support. The Custom Search Business Edition joins other search offerings from the Google enterprise group including the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini, both of which offer additional control over crawl depth and timing, as well as secure access to internal documents.

Demonstration video of the Custom Search Business Edition