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I hope you noticed, I put a search (Google/Site) in the top of the sidebar. It replaced the Subscription by E-mail link, which is now in the RSS section below.
I have used search before on the old Blogger Blog and it did fairly well. I read a post that Lara wrote today that convinced me to use it here. I had contemplated it for a little while but didn’t want to overcrowd the Blog. Her post led me to realize the importance of using search to help readers find what they are looking for.
Google Search now offers a Web search and searches of 3 different URL’s of your choice. Something to consider, even though you can use any .com you like, you Can Not use the search for different pages ie. /WP or /blog. If you are like me, and quite a few other people, that makes for a difficult choice.
Since I do have a Webpage on my .com index URL, I can use the search for that. But, my intention was to offer choices to search the Blog, then the Website and/or my Freeware Finds Blog then the Web. Not happening.
It’s beyond me why AdSense doesn’t allow for pages since in a lot of cases (like mine) the search is more useful for the specific page(s) involved. They have it for themselves, “search google/adsense” why not for everyone else?
As I said, I really wanted to offer the opiton of a search, so I will leave it for now. I will keep an eye on it and see if it is of any use to anyone.
Do you have a search option on your site? Have you had any problems with searches on specific pages (/blog or /articles)?
8 Comments
Hi Joe,
I have search on my site. I set it up for my base domain name, too. Less than 1% of the people use it, but that’s enough to be worth having it on the site. I sometimes use it to find something I know I’ve said but have forgotten where.
By the way, in IE6 on XP Home your sidebars now appear after the content area ends. The search box table seems to be too wide.
Hey Rick,
Well, I guess 1% is not much to worry about, but you don’t make any money from a search of your own page anyway.
I have IE6 XP Home and the sidebar looks fine to me, I think it must have something to do with screen resolution.
If I use a lower res, it does slide down a bit. I’ll have to see what I can do about that.
Joe
My resolution is at 1280×800. At full-screen the sidebar is okay, but I usually use IE in a window and the sidebar slides down then.
It’s not a lot of money, but the CTR rate on searches is higher than normal ads.
Rick,
There is an adjustment to allow for the Page to fit the Window, I forgot how to set it. :-\
I know about the CTR, that’s one of the reasons for reinstating it here. I just wish I could make the default to the Blog (/WP) for the site search.
Oh well, maybe they will read this post (CrazyEgg did) and address the problem!?!
Wheee!
Yep, that’s all I’ve got to say.
Here, just for you, I’ll say it again, so you can feel the excitement that I feel knowing I wrote a helpful post!
WHEEE!
Wow, that one even got all caps!
Thanks for the link back, Joe. Glad to see you’re using the search feature. I hope it helps out!
Hey Lara,
See, I told you I read your blog.
You write so much that is useful, I’m just glad to share it with my readers.
Thanks for the tip (reminder) on this one.
Joe
I use Google search for my blogs and I’ve also integrated the search results page, so it looks as if it’s just a part of my website.
There are few tutorials around for integrating Google search results, and I wrote such a tutorial myself a couple of weeks ago – so if you ever need help with it, just ask.
All the best!
Gleb
Hey Gleb,
I used to use search on my old blog but never incorporated it here. It just took a little push to make the decision to use it here. I have Lara to thank for that.
I would like to find out more about getting the results so I know what’s happening. Give me a link to your tutorial so I can use it and pass it on.
Thanks,
Joe