How to make a customised search engine?

Go to the following site and you need to login with your gmail account to get access

http://google.com/coop/manage/cse/create/

Once you have logged in you will have to go through two steps to create your own search engine.

In the first step you will be asked to give information about

Search engine name-Two or more search engines can have the same name, so dont worry, you need not have to check for availabilit etc,But make sure you select a name that explains what your search engine is going to search for. And since this appears on your google homepage(yes, google provides each of the search engine a specific homepage ), make sure it is a descriptive name, as search engines will give a better relation to your word and its meaning.

Search engine description-This is to describe what your search engine is about and the same applies to this as for the name. But don,t include unrelated words, as it will lead to ranking in for those unrelated words.Although if you want to attract unwanted traffic, go ahead, but i would not reccomend you to do that.

Search engine keywords-This seems to be the most important part of the entire form, select two or a maximum of three keywords. keep the range of your search engine in mind while selecting the keywords. Since the search engine will be searching for these keywords choose them wisely. You dont have to worry about choosing them wrong the first time, as they can be changed latter on.

The option to include only sites you mention, or giving prominence to these sites is also provided. Choose the option of searching for only included sites if you want to narrow down your search drastically, however, if you plan to make it more broad, choose search the entire web. But choosing to search the entire web will take a little time to be of much use.

To start a COOP(Customized search engine) you need to include atleast one site while starting the venture. So find the best site to include first on your engine, as the first few sites that are included will appear on your google homepage.

You can choose to collaborate with as many as 100 volunteers. It would be wise to collaborate if you are covering a wide topic. However, be careful as to whom you collaborate, as they too get to change the sites to include and exclude.

More about the next step in the next post..