If you're one of the thousands of sites using Google Site Search (GSS), you may have heard that Google is retiring the product later this year, and you're probably wondering what happens to your site search tool. .
Short answer: it's being replaced by a Custom Search Engine (CSE), and you're being chosen for the new tool from April 1, 2018. This change has caught the attention of the SEO and SEM communities, and there are benefits undeniable and against this change for both sites and advertisers.
The old Google site search
Currently, sites can pay $100 per month to have a white-label site search feature that allows users to search for content within their domain. No ads are shown in these results and users have no idea that Google is behind the search function of their favorite sites. Additionally, advertisers who choose to advertise on the Search Partner Network forfeit the ability to select specific placements because they know that the cell phone number list Search Partner Network consists of a well-organized network of content providers that choose to host Google search results.
What's Coming Soon
Going forward, sites will no longer have the freedom to pay $100 per month for Google-powered ad-free site search. If they want to continue using the Google solution, they will have an “ad-powered” on-site tool, which is Google-branded. The search partner network will now represent a mix of e-commerce and content-oriented sites. Selecting specific placements is still not available in AdWords (in Bing you've always been able to raise your bids or exclude placements).
That's a big deal: Site owners are going to have to choose between a search experience that might drive users away from their site via ads or migrating to a new site search solution. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, and advertisers should pay attention to them in order to know how to interact with the network of search partners.