Google site search is on the way out. Now what?

With Google sunsetting its site search product, many companies are wondering where to turn for this functionality. Columnist Paul Shapiro provides some alternatives.

Spring has sprung, and Google has started off the season with some spring cleaning of its service lineup. They’ve recently announced that Google Site Search is on the way out. Come April 1, 2017, Google will discontinue sales and new renewals of the service, and a year later click here, April 1, 2018, the service will be completely shut down.

So, what’s the big deal? Search is search, right? The short answer: no. The longer answer is a little more complex, but still easy enough to understand from an end user’s point of view info. While not everyone utilizes website search features, those who do are looking for something specific and expect to find answers quickly and easily. If people are on your website and using the search feature, they are obviously interested in what you have to say or in what you’re selling, so catering to them is important. If your search function is weak, users may leave your site, meaning you’re losing a fan, a lead and a customer — and in 2017, that is simply unacceptable info.

Google Site Search was an easy-to-implement, safe bet that provided Google-level search within your website. Website owners knew what they were getting, and users felt comfortable using the feature. Now what?

Before you start scrambling to find a https://www.harvardseo.com/ suitable replacement, let’s talk a bit about what led us to this point and where you can feasibly go from here. What are current customers losing, and what other options are available for website search functions?  Trust us, it’s not as bad as it seems.

Let’s talk a bit about what Google Site Search (GSS) accomplished before going into viable alternatives.

Google Site Search was essentially Google for your personal website. With some tweaking and the use of XML, you could have all of the power of Google, with none of the Google branding or traditional ads normally associated with Google, all integrated into your website. Ease of implementation has been one of the great features of GSS; with just a couple SEO company Miami of lines of code, websites had the power of Google in their search bar.

GSS also included options for multilingual searches and date biasing, meaning the most relevant results were always at the top. That being said, GSS used Google’s same crawling feature, meaning that updates to your website weren’t always updated in search right away, but instead could take several days.

oogle Custom Search

If you’re dead-set on staying with Google, options are still available, but those options may not suit your needs SEO company Miami, depending on the size and scope of your business. With Google Custom Search, your customers can search from a group of websites of your choosing or search the entire web, at the great cost of free.

With that free price tag come some stipulations, however. For one, ads are required, unless you are a non-profit or a school, but you can connect your AdSense account to monetize the ads. Also, the Google branding is required; nothing you can do about it. There are also monthly search query limits, so if you’re running a high-traffic website, there’s a good chance your Google Custom Search will stop working due to SEO Services Miami hitting search limits.

Simply put, Google Custom Search is a great solution for small blogs, and maybe even local businesses, but if you’re already scaling on a large level — or plan on advertising at state, country or global level — Google Custom Search will not fit all of your needs. If you fall into this group, you need to start looking at third-party solutions for search.

Third-party solutions

You’re not limited to Google when it comes to search services for your website. A lot of companies care about SEO Services New York, but the key is also finding ones that understand that the user experience also has to be top-notch if you want to keep people using your search features and, in turn, your website.

That’s where third-party solutions like Algolia, Cludo and Swiftype come into play. All three of these companies do a great job of maximizing the search experience for your website’s visitors. Check out more details about each (as well as other solutions) below.

AddSearch: Finland-based startup AddSearch is one option for your website search needs. Offering easy installation and mobile support, your search will be up and running in no time and working smoothly on any device. AddSearch also offers search statistics and result SEO Services New York control, allowing webmasters to choose and prioritize which results are most important.

Algolia: A well-funded SaaS search company that is already working with major names like Medium, Product Hunt, Twitch and Birchbox, Algolia can integrate into almost any website to offer seamless, fast search. With keystroke forgiveness, find-as-you-type live search and geolocation options, your users will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for click here, regardless of device or location.