TAGS: Google Site Search, Google Custom Search Blog, Seattle SEO Marketing

I recently attended a Google Webinar on Google's improved Site Search feature. 

Site Search is a tool which can be implemented on a Web site allowing site visitors to use a search field to access information and products specific to the site they're on.  This is great for potential customers, registrants, etc to find exactly what they're looking for on your Web site.  There is an even better bonus for the site owners, though:  all search information input is tracked and calculated and, along with Google Analytics and Webmaster tools, compile a complete overview of visitors' viewing and purchasing patterns.

Along with integrating the search field, specific search term and synonyms thereof can be set.  For example, your site sells movies but customers may not just enter the term "movies," they may enter "Blu-ray," "DVDs," "DVD," etc.  You can set the field to direct clients to "movies" if they enter any of those terms or related products.

Site owners or their Webmasters can then use the collected information to determine many things valuable to increasing completed transactions:

1.  New search synonyms.
2.  Related products or services clients are looking for which you could choose to incorporate or sell.
3.  What search terms are used, did the potential customer view the product(s), how far into the product did they get and what percentage completed the transaction or where they left product.

Another bonus of using Google Site Search is increased search engine optimization (SEO).  Google offers deeper indexing of site pages and products for clients opting to use the improved site search product.  This allows for higher rankings on products and services the site offers and increased site traffic.

Below is a list of improved Google Site Search features:

With Google Site Search, you can create a search engine for your organization's websites in just a few minutes. Key features include:

Enhanced Index Coverage
Enhanced Index Coverage ensures comprehensive search results on any website by crawling and indexing more content, even for pages deep within a site.

Synonyms
Enable visitors find documents with related terms without having to issue multiple queries. You can easily upload synonym dictionaries specific to your website. For example, (a search for [car] will now include [cars]). You can easily upload a custom synonym dictionary (a search for [fd] would include [fixed deposits] in search results).

Date Biasing
From now on, administrators can influence their search ranking based on the age of the documents (e.g., a recent product datasheet is weighted more heavily than older product documents). This feature can also be disabled and administrators can decide the level of influence for their sites (low, medium, high or maximum).

Top Results Biasing
Google Site Search allows you to target the top search results from specific sections of your website (such as your product catalog).