Back to School Presentation Resources

Back to School? But it's July!

Nonetheless, with Google Co-op, educators and others can create their own search engines this summer -- and get them up and running just in time for the upcoming fall semester. A custom search box on a website can look something like this:

Now, just why would webmasters want to create their own search engines? Think of it this way: a regular Google search can deliver results from millions of websites. Sometimes, that's not so desirable! But with a Google Co-op search engine, webmasters can hand pick only the sites they want to include in the search -- delivering a more focused result for visitors.

So let's say you're a school webmaster. With Google Co-op, you can select the sites you want to include -- and exclude millions of other sites. This can create safer, more specialized results. For an example, I quickly created a Google Co-op search engine called "Back to School Presentation Resources" -- and included only 44 college and school sites. This eliminates a ton of commercial sites, so a searcher can get more education-focused results.

But let's say you're a corporate webmaster. Using Google Co-op, you can choose to include only the websites in your corporate umbrella -- and eliminate competitive websites. Searchers can stay at your site to receive their results, instead of leaving for elsewhere.

Google delivers ads along with results when you use Custom Search on for-profit sites. But if you're a school or non-profit, your custom search engine can deliver just the search results.

How will schools and corporations use Google Co-op this fall?

Labels: Presentation Applications

¶ 7/13/2007 06:08:00 PM