How to Add Google Custom Search in your Blog ?

Google provides you an option of adding its search box in your blog or website. Maximum internet users visit google as their first website when they connected to internet. Its become habit to many of us too. Google provides tons of free services to many types of users. Here, a great tool that allows you to display google searches on your blog or a website with your google adsense code integrated in it. Whenever users search for your blog posts, then the search results will be served by google with adsense advertisements in header and footer of the results.

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It is a very useful method for bloggers who like to get more clicks on their adsense in a complete legal way.

How to Add Google Custom Search to your Blog ?

Step 1: Go to google.com/cse and login using your google account login details.

Select “create a custom search engine” as this is the time to add google cse in your website. Once added your site or blog, then you can click on “manage your existing search engines” from that time.

The three steps of site adding process allows you to add your site faster and to give enough search results while user searches for any query in the google cse box.

Step 2: Managing the search engine newly added

Now the google cse dashboard to manage your sites that you have added will be shown whenever you visit and select “manage your existing search engines”. You will get 3 options to manage your site.

  • Control Panel – to manage your websites Google custom search engine.
  • Statistics – to review the overall statistical data of searches performed via your website or blog search box.
  • Delete – to delete the site that you have added.

Step 3: Google CSE Control Panel

Here you can manage your search engine effectively with options like Basic google cse settings, sites to search and display results, Indexed data and sitemaps, Promotions if you run any, Altering the way the search engine box, and results look like, Code generation and so on.

Customize the complete look of your search engine box and the result displaying page at Look and Feel. Once done, click on the Get Code link to generate your code to use with your website.

Step 4: Paste the code generated in your blog

Google basically provides two types of integration method to add in your site. First, is completely an ajax based search box with results embedded in it. Second, is the search box that you can add in sidebar, under each post or anywhere in your website or a blog and when user perform the search, it will take them to a new page to display results.

Above screenshot show the ajax type. If you dont feel to display the result within your website then you redirect the user to google page to display the result. Its one of the simple way to display your search results and can be done with the help of “iFrame” option which you can select under “Look and Feel” Tab.

  • Search element Provides the most layout and customization options.
  • Iframe Provides limited customization and requires a separate page for results on your site.
  • Google-hosted page Results are hosted on Google.

Step 5: Choose your favorite Layout

In the same page, you can select your favorite layout option to display the google search results.

Step 6: Adding your Google Adsense ID to generate Revenue

When use search in your website and get the search results, how about adding some google adsense advertisement in that page to get some genuine clicks on your adsense account ? Navigate to “Make Money” under the sites control panel which is next to “collaboration” link.

This requires some permission to add your google adsense and custom search engine applications together. After that create a channel in your google adsense dashboard and submit it in the google custom search sites control panel. This helps to track the search and clicks on ads better to analyze and optimize the search options if any required. Generate more revenue with your google adsense with google custom search after implementing it in your website.

Step 7: Implementing Google Custom Search in your Blog or Website

Ofcourse, there are some plugins exist for wordpress based blogs to integrate google custom search in side bar. But they makes the customization bit complex with most of the themes. Certain Framework based themes make this process very simple. After changing the layout and color options navigate to get code to generate your unique google custom search code. I

Search Results Page: if you have selected “iFrame” type of search results displaying then create a page called “search” and paste the code in that page. Remember, you must use “HTML” mode while pasting the code in your newly created search page. Dont select “visual” to paste your html code.

Search Box: Paste the search box code in your sidebar widget by creating a new “text” widget. You must use the same page name that you have used to configure your google cse in step 4.

Ajax Results (Search Element): if you have selected “search element” in step 4, then you will get single code box that has search results integrated in it. Here you can paste the code directly to your “search” page in wordpress and both the search box and search results will be displayed in that page. Incase of doubt and set up related issue, you can leave a comment. ๐Ÿ™‚ Happy Blogging…

About the Author: Robin C

Security Consultant, Engineer, Technology Enthusiast and Blogger.

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10 Comments

    1. Getting right plugin for google cse is tough for many users Gojeg. Let me come up with an article to list all the available plugins that are currently in development as well for implementing google cse in their blog.

      Thanks for your comment !

      – Robin

  1. Excellent post Robin. I like the detailed and step by step instructions on how to register for a custom search engine on Google.

    I’ve released a wordpress plugin a few days ago for Adding a Google Custom Search Engine to a website. It essentially replaces steps 4, 5 and 7 of your instructions. And the plugin offers some different ways in displaying the search results, such as as a pop-up dialog, under the widget or in a customized spot.

    Would it be okay if I provided a link to your post. The instructions you have for creating a custom search engine with Google will be beneficial for users of the Google Custom Search plugin.

    -Little Handy Tips

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