How To Implement A Search Feature On My Website?

Date First Published: 28th April 2023

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Questions & Answers

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn about how to implement a search feature on your website in this article.

A search feature on your website is essential as it allows visitors to easily find what they are looking for on your website based on the terms they are searching for. Nearly all major websites have a search feature as part of the website navigation. Without a search feature, it would be harder for visitors to find what they are looking for and they would have to look through multiple categories and subcategories. This article explores the three main ways that you can implement a search feature on your website.

1. Use Google Programmable Search Engine

The first way of implementing a custom search engine on a website is to use a customisable search engine from a third-party provider. In this example, Google was used because it is the most popular search engine.

Google Programmable Engine is a search engine provided by Google that allows website owners to include a custom search engine on their sites to help visitors find what they are looking for more quickly and efficiently. This search engine uses Google's core search technology to provide fast and relevant results. For more information about Google Programmable Search Engine, see this article.

You will need a Google account to implement Google Programmable Search Engine on your website. To implement Google Programmable Search Engine, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Programmable Search Engine Control Panel using your Google account.
2. In the Sites to Search section, add the pages you want to include in your search engine. You can include whole site URLs, individual page URLs, and URL patterns. You can include any site you want and don't have to own the site.
3. The name of your search engine will be automatically generated based on the URLs you select.
4. Select the language of your search engine. This defines the language of the buttons and other design elements of your search engine.
5. Click Create. Your search engine should now be ready to use. You can see more configuration options in the Control Panel. You can now embed the search box in your website for users to make searches.

An example of how Google Programmable Search Engine works can be seen on this site. If you are using a larger device, you should see a search bar on the sidebar. If you are using a smaller device, you should see a search bar near the bottom of the page.

2. Use A CMS

This is the simplest way of implementing a search feature on your website. If you use a CMS, like WordPress, you will find a simple built-in search feature that comes with the template since a CMS usually stores content in a database. When performing a search, it will return results from all entries stored in that database. There are also plugins for WordPress, like SearchWP Ajax Live and WP Extended Search which provide additional features to the built-in WordPress search feature. Most WordPress sites already use this built-in search feature.

3. Install Your Own Search Engine Script

The third way that you can implement a search feature on your website is by installing your own search engine script. Since most web accounts support PHP and Perl scripts, you are likely to be able to install it. You don't have to write one yourself. There are plenty of free search engine scripts that you can use for your site.

There are two main types of search engine scripts. One will search your whole website for relevant keywords each time a search is performed. The other one will create an index of your site and only search the index when the search engine is used.

Search engine scripts will require much more configuration and are more complex to implement than Google Programmable Search Engine and CMS plugins. However, you can customise the results to your content and reindex your site as many times as you want. Reindexing your site does not increase your bandwidth usage. Examples of free search engine scripts are Sphider PHP Search Engine and Simple Search erl Script.

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