Fwd: Updates to our Web Search Products & Programmable Search Engine Capabilities

[Larry Masinter]

Another update 

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LarryMasinter.net

Begin forwarded message:

From: Google Programmable Search Engine <cse-n...@google.com>
Date: January 22, 2026 at 11:07:50 AM PST
To: L...@interlisp.org
Subject: Updates to our Web Search Products & Programmable Search Engine Capabilities
Reply-To: Google Programmable Search Engine <cse-n...@google.com>



To learn more about what this means for your Programmable Search Engine please review the blogpost‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

Updates to our Web Search Products & Programmable Search Engine Capabilities Evolving Programmable Search Engine Dear Programmable Search Engine user, Programmable Search Engine helps hundreds of partners – from academic institutions to retail websites – serve their users’ search needs on their sites. Looking forward, we’ll be evolving our offerings to provide more focused and capable solutions for every use case. This evolution is designed to ensure a high-quality experience for users and partners. A clearer path for every search need We're simplifying and modernizing our offerings so you can choose the best tool for your goals. • For site-specific search: The Programmable Search Element (the “Search Element”) is being simplified to be the best tool for creating rich, focused search experiences on your own websites. • For enterprise-grade needs: For advanced features like AI-powered conversational search and enterprise-grade grounding, we continue to offer Google Vertex AI Search as a solution. • For global web search needs: We understand some partners have use cases that require querying beyond a designated subset of domains. Our full web search solution is available for those requiring our entire index; please complete this form to register your interest. Planning your transition to more powerful tools We are excited to help you harness the full potential of these evolving solutions. As you plan for the future, here is your path forward for the transition, which can be completed any time between now and January 1, 2027. • “Sites to search” feature for users of the Search Element querying 50 or fewer domains: The Search Element remains the optimal solution for delivering highly optimized and focused results. • “Search the entire web” option for users of the Search Element querying more than 50 domains: If your use case necessitates querying more than 50 domains or is set to “Search the entire web”, contact us to express your interest in the more advanced full web search solution and get more information about its capabilities and pricing. Your transition to an alternative solution needs to be completed by January 1, 2027. • For users of the Custom Search JSON API: Vertex AI Search is a favourable alternative for up to 50 domains. Alternatively, if your use case necessitates full web search, contact us to express your interest in and get more information about our full web search solution. Your transition to an alternative solution needs to be completed by January 1, 2027. To prepare for this transition, as of today, all new engines must be configured to use the “Sites to search” feature. This change impacts only new engines; existing engines are not affected and can continue to use the “Search the entire web” option until January 1, 2027. This evolution will help us create more focused products, so we can provide a better search experience for our developer partners. We’re excited to build the future of search with you. Thank you, The Google Programmable Search Engine Team © 2026 Google LLC 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google product or account.

[Bill Stumbo]

We will need to make some changes.  We currently use the `Search the entire web` option which sunsets at the end of 2026.  The worse case scenario is that search results are limited to sites we explicitly enable.  

We have time to continue to explore using Vertex AI Search and whether it provides better results and at what cost.  It offers two modes a simple results list, much like the current search the web option, and a second option that enhances the results with an AI generated summary. 

I'll create an issue so we can track it and make sure that we're positioned by EOY 2026.

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Bill Stumbo
wst...@charter.net

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Bill Stumbo
wst...@charter.net