How to Create Your Own Custom Search Engine With Google

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A simple guide to creating your own search engine
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Have you ever wondered if you could build your own search engine like Google? While you technically could code your own search engine from scratch, it would take a lot of time and a wide berth and depth of knowledge in algorithms, programming, and data analysis. However, there is an easier way to make a custom search engine that you can embed on your website or use in your browser: a Google Programmable Search Engine. Read on to learn how to make one of these search engines, implement it on your website, and more.

How to Build a Custom Search Engine

To make your own custom search engine, use Google's Programmable Search Engine. Choose which sites will be searched with this search engine, as well as if you want to include Image or SafeSearch. After making your search engine, you can embed it in your website with the provided <script> tag.

Section 1 of 4:

Create a Custom Search Engine

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  1. Go to Google's Programmable Search Engine site . Previously, this was called Google's Custom Search Engine. With the Programmable Search Engine, you can specify what websites can be searched by the engine.
    • One of the biggest reasons people create custom search engines is to search a particular site, such as their own. However, you don't have to use the Programmable Search Engine on your own site. If you do want to add your search engine to your website, however, we cover that below .
  2. If you are prompted to sign in to your Google account, do so now.
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  3. If you have any custom search engines already made, they will appear on this page. Otherwise, the page will say "You don't have any search engines. Create your first search engine!"
  4. Do not use "Google" in your search engine's name. You also should not use other trademarked names unless you own the trademark. All references to Google must be in compliance with Google's branding guidelines. [1]
  5. You can either choose Search specific sites or pages or Search the entire web . If you choose Search specific sites or pages , add a website or webpage URL to the box that says "Enter a site or pages" and click Add .
    • You can enter the following types of URLs:
      • Individual pages (i.e. www.example.com/example.html)
      • An entire site (i.e. www.example.com/*)
      • Parts of a site (i.e. www.example.com/example/*)
      • An entire domain (i.e. *.example.com)
  6. If you want to enable Image and/or SafeSearch, toggle those options on.
    • Image search will allow the custom search engine to return images to a search query.
    • SafeSearch will filter explicit results from the search engine results page.
  7. You'll have to complete a CAPTCHA before you can create your custom search engine.
    • Once you create the custom search engine, Google will provide you with a script code. If you want to add your search engine to your site , save this code. If not, move to the next step.
  8. You can edit the settings you chose during the search engine creation here, as well as the following options:
    • Description: Add a description to your search engine if you like.
    • Region & region restricted results: Choosing a region in the dropdown will change what the search engine returns when you use it. If you only want to show search results from the region you selected, toggle on Region restricted results .
    • Sites to exclude: If there are sites you never want to be searched with your search engine, add them here the same way you added sites to search when creating the search engine.
    • Upload/download XML files: If the control panel doesn't give you enough flexibility to customize your search engine, download the XML files, edit them, and upload them to change your CSE. You must know XML to edit these files.
    • Look and Feel: Click All Look and Feel settings to change your search engine's layout, theme, fonts, colors, and more.
    • Members: Add owners and administrators who can access your search engine's settings.
    • Ads: Remove ads with an API key. You must either pay for this (click "Programmable Search Engine Paid API" in the control panel) or get a free ad-free search engine if you're a qualifying organization.
    • Programmatic Access: Click Get started to learn how to set up your custom search JSON API. You must know JavaScript/JSON and how to call APIs to use this.
  9. Type your query in the box that says "Enhanced by Google," then click the magnifying glass button (or press ↵ Enter ) to search your query in your custom search engine. [2]
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Section 2 of 4:

Adding the Engine To Your Site

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  1. If you didn't save the code generated from the last section, you can copy it again from the control panel.
    • The code will have a URL between <script> tags, as well as a
      tag.
  2. Make sure you paste the code wherever you want the search box to be.
  3. Once your code is saved and the changes are live, go to your website and ensure that the CSE is in a good spot. If you don't like it, you can always remove the code you pasted and add it somewhere else.
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Section 3 of 4:

Try a Non-Google Search Engine

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  1. If you want to build your own search engine because you have concerns about Google and its privacy, safety, or censorship, you should try a different search engine first. Even though Google is the ubiquitous search engine, there are many other search engines to try:
    • DuckDuckGo is a search engine that focuses on privacy. DuckDuckGo claims not to track you and is one of the most well-known "alternative" search engines. Most of DuckDuckGo's search results are sourced from Bing's index.
    • StartPage is another privacy-focused browser that claims not to track users, nor does it keep a search history. Most of StartPage's search results are sourced from Google's index.
    • Brave is yet another private search engine, though they do collect private user metrics to track the search engine's activity and performance. Unlike DuckDuckGo and StartPage, Brave has its own search index—but will fall back against Google or Bing if needed.
      • Brave also has its own browser, if you want to use that instead of a traditional browser like Edge, Chrome, Firefox, etc.
Section 4 of 4:

Is it possible to build your own search engine?

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  1. 1
    Building a search engine is possible, but it takes a lot of time, money, and know-how. Besides needing to have a lot of time to spend on a project and a lot of money to pay for server space and/or cloud infrastructure, you should already know the following things before attempting to build a search engine entirely from scratch (though this is not an exhaustive list of requirements):
    • How to write and develop powerful and complex algorithms
    • How to collect and analyze data
    • How to build a web crawler that can scrape the web and create an index (database)
    • How to code with a language like Python or JavaScript (including importing libraries, making HTTP requests, parsing HTML, and extracting data)
  2. 2
    Utilize tools to help you create your own search engine. Tools like Elasticsearch (a RESTful search and analytics engine) and Pinecone (a vector database) might help you build a search engine that's mostly from scratch, but you'll still need to have a significant amount of coding knowledge, time, and money to create your own search engine.
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    Do I have to pay if I make my own search engine?
    Community Answer
    No, it's completely free of charge. Some other services might require you pay, but this method should be free.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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  • Question
    How do I develop a search engine that has not been done before?
    Raif
    Community Answer
    Modify the search engine by clicking "control panel," and link it to your own paid domain using the code.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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    Not Helpful 23 Helpful 28
  • Question
    How can I make money by developing my own search engine? And can I get help from a software engineer?
    Community Answer
    To make money, you can display ads on your engine (just make sure they're unobtrusive). Also, I'm sure you won't need a software engineer if you use CSE.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6370057
      2. ↑ https://support.google.com/programmable-search/answer/11082370?hl=en&ref_topic=4513742&sjid=6247803162989507241-NC

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