iHollywood

JupiterKagan's Search Engine Expert on Google Custom

JupiterKagan analyst Sapna Satagopan, who specializes in search engines, predicts Google Custom Search Engine is generally speaking a tool for established businesses.

"It will work well for certain companies, but not as much for a single person," she predicted.

She says is a good tool for an organization that already have a database of sites it uses. "It definitely makes sense for the site owners who know what kind of web site works for them," she told iHollywood.

Satagopan also noted the historical irony of Google introducing the public to a more complicated way of searching the web. "Google brought us to the one-stop model and now they’re looking at the categories," she told iHollywood. "I think the message is a one-stop model is not going to work all the time."

You can read my previous post on the Google Custom Search Engine here.

-Benjamin Nugent

Google's Custom Search Engine Launches

Google rolled out its custom search engine today. The idea is that you can now tailor your searches to scan the kind of sites you like. Yahoo! already has a custom search engine function, so now there's one more arena in which the two butt heads.

The Google Custom Search Engine nudges you to name your customized search engine after your own web site or company, the idea being that you will treat your web visitors to a special set of Google results they've never encountered if they try out the custom engine you've created. You can invite people to help you edit your search engine, allowing them to sign in and change the settings.

As a test, I created an iHollywoodForum Search Engine designed to look for entertainment and digital technology in the sites I look at most often. I typed in WiMAX and got the same results I always get.

But it was my first try. You have to keep refining your instructions to the search engine until trial and error get you the kind of searches you want. The question is: will everyday Google users be willing to tweak their settings until the custom results starts to feel customized?

Or will they get impatient and go back to everyman's Google, longing for that trademark simplicity that made them love Google in the first place?

-Benjamin Nugent