Google Soups Up Site Search with On-Demand Indexing

Google Nov. 13 improved its hosted Google Site Search offering with On-Demand Indexing, technology that enables businesses to make sure their public Web sites have the freshest content for visitors to access.

Google Site Search, an alternative to enterprise search products from specialists such as Microsoft's Fast, Vivisimo or Endeca, provides public businesses with Google's search functionality. Google also offers search appliances that enterprises may run on their own premises should they require more control and security.

Without impacting ranking or indexing on Google.com search results, On-Demand Indexing in Google Site Search rapidly indexes newly created or updated Web pages for businesses and makes them searchable for site visitors, Nitin Mangtani, lead product manager for Google Enterprise Search, told eWEEK. Mangtani added:

On-demand Indexing is like a turbo charge for the Google Site Search product that says 'index my Web site now.' I might be adding or launching a new product, updating a Web site, I want to make sure that visitors who come to our Web site, they can find the most updated and freshest content.

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See Google Site Search in action here

On-Demand Indexing works quietly in the background. Site owners control the way the tool works on their sites by clicking on an "Index Now" button to update their site search results. New pages are largely searchable within hours; Google says the pages will take no longer than a day to appear within site search results.

The improvement in rendering fresh content is part of Google's master plan to closely replicate the speed, breadth and depth users experience with consumer search on enterprise search.

Adobe recently launched its Creative Suite 4.0 and used the On-demand Indexing tool  to index thousands of new Web pages for the Adobe Community Help in hours. Con Edison and Zecco.com also leveraged the new tool.

Programmers may customize Site Search using an XML API. For example, users can highlight product data sheets over support logs. Admins may also create a special user interface that each search result includes a "buy now" link, or a link for a video demonstration.

Ad support is optional for Google Site Search, which starts at $100 per year, per Web site. The cost rises as Web sites add more pages.