[Inside AdSense] AdSense for search now powered by Custom Search

[Inside AdSense]

We're happy to let you know that AdSense for search is now powered by
Custom Search. If you've used Custom Search Engine (CSE) before, you
know that Custom Search offers advanced customization options to help
improve the accuracy of your search results and tailor them to what
users are looking for. With the integration of Custom Search into
AdSense for search, you can take advantage of CSE's most popular
features without having to leave your AdSense account.

Here are some of the new features:

* Site Search: You've worked hard to attract users to your site,
so it's understandable that you'd be concerned about those users
leaving through web search. Now you can choose to provide just site
search so users can find all the information they're looking for on
your site, and you can host the search results on your own pages so
that they can find that information without leaving your site.

* Improved indexing of your pages: We've recently improved our
indexing technology so that you can provide a more enhanced Site
Search experience for your users. AdSense for search will now index
even more pages of your site, as long as we’re able to crawl them, so
that your users will see more results from your site in your AdSense
for search results. Stay tuned for more updates on future crawl and
indexing improvements!

* Vertical search: You can also allow your users to search across
multiple sites - this could be a network of sites that you own or
other related sites that you think your users might find useful. If
you write book reviews on your blog, for example, you can use vertical
search to specify a list of online bookstores for users to search
through. Other examples of vertical searches include computer forums,
travel blogs, political sites you endorse, etc.

* Tuning search results and ads with keywords: Search terms can
have different meanings in different contexts, so you can now
configure your search engine with relevant keywords. Let's say you
manage a site about yoga - you can enter keywords such as 'yoga,'
'exercise,' and 'meditation' so that when a user searches for 'mat,'
the search results and ads will be more related to yoga mats and less
to commercial floor mats. (You can see an example of this in the video
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwxC9hrxM4 ). In experiments, we've
found that this tuning has led to an increase in earnings for
publishers.

* Selecting ad location: Do you want ads to appear at the top and
bottom of your search results? Or along the right sidebar as well,
just like on Google.com? Now you can make the call on where ads are
placed. (Here's a tip: we've found that placing ads at the top and
right monetizes the best for publishers.)

* Quick and easy updates: Just as you use our ad management
feature to quickly change the settings for your ad and referral units,
you'll be able to do the same for your search engine within your
AdSense account. Your settings will be saved in your account, so you
won't need to generate new search code for each change.

We recommend getting started with the features above by visiting your
AdSense Setup tab and selecting 'AdSense for Search' as your product.
Once you've set up your search box, you may wish to explore more
advanced features such as site exclusion, labels, and collaboration.
More information about these features is available at
http://www.google.com/support/customsearch/bin/topic.py?topic=11496 .
Please note that these new features will only be available to you if
you've migrated your account to a Google Account.

Ready to learn more about the new features available for AdSense for
search? Just visit our Help Center at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=144
. (You might also notice that we've just implemented Custom Search
there too.)

Posted by Sandra Tsui - AdSense Publisher Support
Monday, May 05, 2008 at 4:53:00 PM