As we know, Google launched a pretty nifty tool called Custom Search. Looking at it from a development standpoint, I wanted to bring up a couple possibilities for it though. This is also a way to dramatically raise your adsense earnings. I am interested to see what your thoughts are!
Earnings: This custom search option lets you capitalize on more space and functionality from the Adsense perspective. The page is already optomized for the keywords you input, so once you tie your adsense account to the search, you are all set. Then, ad users search for a topic, very targetted keywords come up.
Now, if you know how to play with the listings, like using a keyword of “business intelligence” rather than “business,” you will notice a dramatic increase in your earnings. Let me just say that this one change will take a normal click from $.20 or so to almost $2.00.
Private Searches:Have you ever tried to look for information on video cameras? You will find nothing buy spam ridden and price comparison sites (I know, I just bought one). What if you were looking for legitamite functionality reviews? What would you do then?
The answer, build a custom Google search. You approve the sites that you want included. That way, you can take a tour through the internet, pick the sites with excellent content, and then let your users search only those. As you keep looking, you can keep increasing the size of your Google search portfolio.
Here is one such example: Blompo.com.
Build A Community:Problogger is using the custom search option to build a community of site owners. They can approve their sites, add sites they like, and so on. It is definitely a unique twist on good, user generated content.
Reference: Problogger
I really wanted to get some of you thinking of the different aspects that you could use regarding this tool. Let me know what you think. I am still busy implementing the search on some of my sites as well. I am interested to hear of your different uses though!
Keep in mind, if you tune them right, they can be a nice little money maker.