Saturday, May 3, 2003
Customize Google for your site’s search
You can customize the Google look for your own site’s search. It’s completely free and easy to use. Just sign up for Google’s WebSearch
Of course, Google will only show results from pages they indexed on your server. (They will kindly tell you how many that are, in my case over 2000 on the Outer-Court domain). This means the search won’t cover the newest pages, but the better you fare in terms of SEO, the more useful this service should be. If you want to include domains that are not yet spidered by the Googlebot, Google will reject this, but you can customize the settings at a later time.
Even though the page layout is adjustable, there’s clear limits. E.g. you cannot set a non-repeating background image, and you cannot get rid of the box around the Google-area.
Here’s an example search for Googlosophy, using the Outer Court logo and colors. The search box itself originally resides on my server’s homepage, while the search result is served by Google.
Well, Google’s not just being nice by offering this service. They will continue to display advertisement on the right-hand side of the page (as you will be used to in normal Google searches). These ads of course will be mostly from competing sites, possibly luring away your visitors. But that’s a small price to pay, and regarding the fact that Google text-only ads are actually about the only useful ones on the web, your visitors might even benefit.
Google Answers Metablogging
What famous dead people would have said about Google
Pub Boredom Dept.:
Google, with its data collection of over 3 billion webpages and a daily hit rate of around 150 million is certainly the machine of the new millenium. And quite unforeseen, considering what futuristic-minded authors were planning for us to be doing by this time; land on the moon, or travel back in time. Instead, people are hardly ever leaving their home lately, but are surfing the virtual waves from their armchair — examining expressions and opinions, artistic artefacts, or just using visual self-stimulation enhancements.
So here’s a look at what world-famous, but unfortunately dead people, would say about Google (if they were alive to say it):
Albert Einstein, Physician and all-around Genius (1879-1955):
“The theory is relatively obvious: the gravitational force of this search engine attracts a lot of mass – it’s light-years ahead of its time.”
Johannes Gutenberg, Inventor of Modern Printing (1397-1478):
“Civilization’s most important innovation. Next to mine, that is.”
Christopher Columbus, Sailor with Attitude (ca. 1436-1506):
“I wouldn’t have discovered America without Google.”
Adolf Hitler, Vicious Statesman (1889-1945):
“Ze Googlebot invades und infiltrates ze web, making it possible for everyone to locate anti-German, communist propaganda. Ach!”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Prussian Misogynist (1844-1889):
“Google is Dead.”
René Descartes, French Philosopher (1596-1650):
“I google, therefore I am.”
Leonardo da Vinci, Artist and Scientific Explorer (1452-1519):
“Ego-browsing saves a lot of time for a renaissance genius. I can now spend more time than before dissecting corpses at night.”
Ludwig van Beethooven, Rockstar of the Romanticist Era (1770-1827):
“Using ’filetype:mid” to limit my Google search results to music is crucial to my advanced compositions.”
Jan Vermeer van Delft, Skilled Painter (1632-1675):
“The thumbnail paintings of Google Image search are strikingly life-like.”
Karl Marx, Communist (1818-1911):
“For the first time in history, the working class movement has a liberating tool at their hand. Especially the Google Cache proves that intellectual property is theft.”
Alfred Hitchcock, Horror Flick Director (1899-1980):
“Albeit lacking cinematic scope, Googlewhacking is suspense in its purest form.”
William Shakespeare, Old-fashioned Poet (1564-1616):
“What’s in a search engine? That which we call a Google, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”
John Lennon, Beatles-Hippie (1940-1980):
“All you need is Google. Imagine all the people, using it today. You’re just a jealous guy if you ignore this impact.”
Nero Claudius Caesar, Roman Emperor (37-68):
“Google, feel like burning it down. Alea iacta est. Where’s my fiddle?”
John Edgar Hoover, Head of FBI (1895-1972):
“I do fear for the liberal and progressive who has been hoodwinked and duped into joining hands with the communists that are Google.”
Isaac Asimov, Science-Fiction Writer (1920-1992):
“The foundation of our galactic future rests in the hands of ’I, Googlebot’ – luckily so, as long as he 1) doesn’t injure human beings, 2) obeys their orders, and 3) protects his own existence.”
Philipp Kendred Dick, Reality-shifting Author (1928-1982):
“Does Google dream of electric sheep?”
Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra, Singer/Songwriter (1915-1998):
“Google, the top of the heap, a search engine that never sleeps."
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