It’s no secret that the default WordPress search engine leaves much to be desired.
It prioritizes recency over relevancy, which makes for some odd results at times. And to make matters worse, some themes display full posts instead of traditional results. I find that to be limiting for the user experience.
So the best remedy for this is to incorporate Google Custom Search into your WordPress site.
Yes, there are plugins that will improve the default search (i.e. Relevanssi) but if you are an AdSense member, you might as well use GCS so you can generate revenue from ads that are displaying in the results.
Not Many Adopters
I’ve noticed a lot of people use the GCS search box on their sites, but they host the search results on Google.com. This is not ideal because you don’t want people leaving your site when they perform a search.
However, I understand the choice. When Google updated GCS in 2011, they complicated the process, so many just found it easier to just use the remotely hosted results.
Well, hopefully I can simplify the process for you.
Here’s a tutorial that will show you how to setup a self-hosted WordPress search results page so you can display the results on your own site and you’ll learn how to associate the engine with your Google AdSense account.
Enjoy!
Email subbies can view the video here.
Lisa, why can’t I open your video link? I really want to know detail about this but unfortunately I can not open it. Can you send me Youtube Link or instruct me how to open it?
Try clicking on the video and it will take you to YouTube.
I’ve noticed a lot of people use the GCS search box on their sites, but they host the search results on Google.com. This is not ideal because you don’t want people leaving your site when they perform a search.
You don’t have to host them on Google.com. I don’t use the box anymore but when I did, I hosted the results on my site.
I loved reading your post. I am new at blogging so i just wanted to ask . Does it too helps in driving traffic to your blog ?? And what is that GCS search box you were talking about?
I’ve noticed a lot of people use the GCS search box on their sites, but they host the search results on Google.com. This is not ideal because you don’t want people leaving your site when they perform a search.
I was looking for the post for a long time. And now find it very concretely.I’ve been looking for this kind of info, so thanks for your post. I agree it probably needs a bit of tweaking but I have some good insights now on what I need to do with some customisation.I must acknowledged you for the information you shared. I like the services that amazingly surprised me that this kind of work should be done in the proper way and also thanks for the information you shared.
Thank you so much Lisa. This is why you’re definitely a leader in this industry. I come back here whenever I need direction on something. I’m pretty sure that you’ve touched on it in some way. I appreciate your knowledge of the business. God bless!
Hi Lisa,
I was looking for this post, but couldn’t find it anywhere… Of all things, your search box is nowhere to be see:(
In the end I had to go in the archive month by month till I found it.
If I may make a remark, why don’t you add a widget or something that is going to make browsing your blog easier? At this moment in time I have not read a lot of your stuff simply because it is difficult to reach.
Cheers:)
Hi Andrea
I suddenly started getting errors with Google Custom Search so I’m working on fixing this. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Lisa, why can’t I open your video link? I really want to know detail about this but unfortunately I can not open it. Can you send me Youtube Link or instruct me how to open it?
I started blogging months ago and getting it notice is a very difficult. This tutorial helped me understand every step to make my blog good and making money out of it. Plumber in Seattle
Hi Lisa
Thanks for this awesome tutorial! From now on, I will be your avid fan, I’m looking forward for your next post. I never used this site, Well this is a great start to try on my own sites.
Thanks for sharing a nice info!
that’s so cool! i will try to put this custom search on my site right now.
This is Great. This is my first time knowing that you can really earn a money in blogging. Thanks a lot! I’ll will start blogging right now! Thanks for the tutorial Seattle Bankruptcy Attorneys
Thats a great idea! to add this to you website and have good accurate results in more precise manners
Marvelous idea! While not earn money while visitors search information on your website! Thanks for sharing.
Yipee, I did it. I had to do some extra work because my adsense plugin added ads to the landing page template that I choose, I had to edit and remove the adsense via the notepad before I could use the template. you can see a demo by using this link http://www.josylad.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-1079158210454426%3A0098828219&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=plugin&sa=Search
am still not sure if I will opt for this option.
Great Post Lisa, have been watching your YouTube Videos for over 2 hours now.
I also want to add this, no need to go to google.com/cse, Just Login to your adsense account, go to My Ads and select Search follow the procedures there to get your search codes.
I was also looking for this Google custom search for my wordpress blog form few days. It’s really not simple for newbies. But I’ve successfully placed the Google custom search after analyzing this article.
I’ve seen in many blog this search box is customized in many ways. Please also publish some customization suggestions.
Thanks.
Thanks for the tutorial Lisa. It’s working great.
I did get a little confused along the way though. The WordPress page you create isn’t really needed, correct? It seems it’s only needed to pull the template settings (source code) out of a blank page to use in that php results page. What threw me off is for whatever reason I thought you pasted the Google search results code into a WordPress page instead of the php page you created in notepad. My bad, but as soon as I pasted it into the php page, it worked like magic.
I also have to say, while I was watching/listening to your video, I found myself opening four or five tabs to other articles on your site that I want to read, so you definitely have the headline teaser thing down to a science! : )
Correct, that was only created to get the code. I suppose you could paste it into the actual Page and then turn it into a PHP later. As long as you end up with a PHP page at the end with your Google results code, you should be fine.
Thank you very much Lisa for this video
nice post Lisa! Thanks for sharing. will try this
Hi Lisa, I’m currently using my blog custom search, I don’t know whether I should change to Google Search and thank you for the instruction.
Thank you Lisa for the valuable information, WordPress lovers will surely like this. Keep the Great Work!!
Personally I prefer the default WordPress search, because then I can keep track of what users are searching, and then work on making sure the frequently searched content is displayed more prominently on the website, or add new posts if doesn’t exist.
Hi Mike, you can also see what people are searching for in your Google Analytics stats.
I’ve still yet to really get to grips with WordPress. I have a low priority WordPress blog but do not find it as easy to use as everyone says it is. I’m glad you’ve brought this up because I spend way too much time with technical and server side details and less time on content…
Hey Lisa,
thank you for sharing your experiences, and especially thank you for the detailed video. It seems like a very effective idea, I just can’t wait to try it!
I did a post about three years ago showing people how to do this and have the results show up in the template of the blog. It proved an incredibly popular article and I am still getting decent traffic to the post, I think you’ll get more than I did as you have included a video which people like to follow more. 🙂
Hey Dean, Cool! Great minds think alike! (I’m just 3 years late. LOL)
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for going to the trouble of making that video. It IS a lengthy process to get this set up but you’ve made it easy to understand.
I’m going to tackle this later on today 🙂
Thanks so much. You’ve been a big help.
Great and detailed video 😉 I have learnt a lot from it, thank you Lisa
Really well explained Lisa! Hadn’t thought of the Adsense advantage.
Lisa you had explained the stuff nicely & in the easy way.
I believe this tip will implemented not only gives appropriate results but also can help us with better monetizing
thanks . it was a great tutorial . thank u very much
Thanks lisa for this awesome tutorial. I will update it in my blog.
Wow, great video. It certainly helpful for WordPress user like me. Never cross in my mind to incorporate Google custom search into my WP blog. This is great. Thank you so much.
I always appreciate visual aids, so thank you so much for including a video with this post. You’re absolutely right about the quality of the default WordPress search. I definitely feel thrown out of the loop when websites use external GCS.
I don’t know whats the importance of using google custome search instead of Default search. I think default search system is enough for wp. Anyway thanks for your effort to show us the process of using google custom search system for wordpress.
Interesting Article Lisa,
Thanks for sharing this, twas really a great help.
Hi lisa, as usual nice short informative post you provide here Thanks for that. Really amazing way to explain this things in a simple. Video also awesome and easy to understand.
I had no idea on how to do this. I am going to try it on one of my sites to see if I can copy what I saw.
Thanks Lisa for the video !
very well explained Lisa, thank you.
I have implemented this on just one of my sites. not the google CSE, but the self hosted search page.
let me ask you, other than consistency in look and feel (headers/side bars etc), as well as increased page views/time on site, is there another / are there other reasons why one should go through the additional steps to create a self hosted search results page?
in other words, one can use google CSE, which is indeed better than WordPress default, but avoid the additional work by just hosting the results on google’s servers, no?
aside from the two reasons above, is there anything else that I am missing?
again, great video and very well explained
Yep, you summed up the main reasons. For me, I just think it looks much more professional and consistent to keep everything on one site — especially a basic function like search. It always throws me off when I search a site and then am taken to google.com to see the results. But maybe that’s just me. 🙂
Have you ever thought of holding a conference or doing workshops? People would come from all over. But you can host webinars too and you’d have people attending from all over the world as well. Just a thought. You’re ability to breakdown WordPress into bite size pieces is Godgiven. You could totally do this too: http://www.mlwebco.com (he posts free training videos like you do on YouTube but has this website for people to “subscribe” to get additional videos; i.e., residual income). (I can totally tell what plugins he’s using for his video page too!) Anyhow, be encouraged and thanks for sharing another great video 🙂
Lisa
awesome tutorial, I definitely like the wordpress search on my blog better then the google search.
the wordpress search is simple and provides all the article results
Thanks Lisa! I really like your non technical, beginner friendly approach? to website building.
Lisa,
That was a hard subject but you did a great job.
Thanks to your tut ledge I am no frightened by HTML. thanks
Go get ’em Michael! lol
Lisa, thanks for this great tut.
Also, how do you feel about the new update to google, which targeted niche sites and EMDs ? Did you get hit?
What I should have done was signed out and then previewed the page. That would have taken care of it. But I took the code from preview mode. My mistake. 🙂
Lisa, thanks for the great tutorial. I’m not understanding though why your admin bar had to be removed. Why did it show up on the new page even when you were not signed in? 😕
Thanks a million. You continue making life easier and better for the rest of us. I will be following your step-by-step instruction later on today.
Cool, good luck!
Hi Lisa
Once again you have made a great video and once again I have learned something new and awesome. I have never used Google Custom Search, but I will for sure try this on my own blog. I am always looking for some tweaks to improve my blog.
Glad you enjoyed, Thomas! Thanks for coming by.
Hi again Lisa
I had a little problem to find the link for the Google Custom Search, but finally found it. I had to watch your video in super slow to hear find the point where you mention the URL. Maybe you should add it somewhere in this post if other has the same problem to find the URL to sign up. Until then the link is: http://www.google.com/cse
Great tip! Will do this now. Thanks Thomas.
nice way to describe search by wordpress.
Wow…nice and very well explained video lisa…thanks 🙂
Thank you!
Excellent post Lisa. The custom search feature from Google serves much more accurate results than the WordPress search.
It’s a great way to make extra money with Adsense too!
Thanks for stopping by as always, Jordy!