Google’s programmable search engine is easy to set up and a great way to get the custom search results you want faster and without clutter. Google first introduced this feature in 2006, and it’s underused and underappreciated, but everyone should use this handy search tool.
What Is Google’s Programmable Search Engine?
Most of the time, a normal Google search provides some good sources. Unfortunately, ads, sponsored links, irrelevant results, clickbait sites, YouTube videos, social media posts, and other unhelpful content often clutter the results. Google’s Programmable Search Engine solves this problem. Best of all, you don’t need any real technical knowledge. If you can copy and paste links, you can make a custom search engine.
How to Create a Custom Programmable Search Engine
As said, creating a custom programmable search engine is really simple with Google’s free tool.
Create and Name Your Search Engine
First, head to Programmable Search Engine and ensure you are logged in with your Google Account. Select Get Started, click Add in the control panel, and name your search engine.
Enter the Websites You Want to Search
Now, fill out the What to search box. It will give you examples of how to enter the websites you’d like to include. For example, entering www.makeuseof.com/* will include the entire makeuseof.com website, and entering *.bbc.co.uk will search the entire BBC domain, including television, radio, news, etc. You can add as many sites as you like here and always add more or remove some later.
Next, fill in your search settings. There are just two boxes here. Turn Image Search on if you want to include images in your search, and turn Safe Search on if you want it to block adult content from your searches.
Now, confirm that you are not a robot and click Create; your search engine is ready. There is a small code snippet on this page, but you only need it if you want to add it to your website.
Bookmark Your Custom Search Engine
Click Back to all engines in the top left of the page. Here, you will see a link to your search engine and any others you’ve created. Click the search engine’s name to edit, add or remove sites, or change settings.
Click on the link symbol under Public URL to open your search engine in a new window. You can bookmark this page to use your new search engine whenever needed—press CTRL + D on Google Chrome to bookmark the current page.
Programmable search engines can be a great way to get higher quality Google search results faster and with less combing through ads and bad results. They narrow your news search to trusted sites, focus work searches on industry publications, restrict study searches to professor-approved sources, create one for job searching, one for shopping to search only retailers you know and trust, or help you make sure kids search only kid-friendly, educational sites.
Because custom programmable search engines are so fast and easy to create, you can even make one to speed you through a particular project faster and delete it when finished. Experiment and get your search the way you want, without all the clutter.
