Saturday, April 30, 2005

Learning To Blog VI: Google Search Code

In my efforts to be a better blogger (I gave up long ago on being a better person), I've been taking Harvey's blocks of instruction and tips. Some of what he suggested, I actually stumbled across. Some is stuff I never thought about. Some is stuff that might not apply for one reason or another.

Now, I'm not taking these courses with the intent of being a cookie-cutter Web site/Blog. And Harvey doesn't intend that. Rather, he's sharing his experiences and experiences from others in hopes of helping folks like me avoid some pitfalls and learn from the experience of others.

So far, I've taken the courses related to:
Now, I'm going to learn about "Google search code." Following the same format as before, I haven't read ahead. I will take excerpts from Harvey's post and comment on how well I've done by accident or intuition, and where I need to improve. And where I disagree, depending on how arrogant I'm feeling.

Since I'm only using excerpts, I strongly suggest you read Harvey's full post if you want to use the tips and suggestions. Anyway, here goes ...

HELP FOR THE BLOGSPOTTED: GOOGLE SEARCH YOUR SITE

Google bought Blogger a while back, and yet Blogger still doesn't have a native search function included in the blogging software. ...

You NEED a search function on your blog.
Absolutely! It's an ego trip, if nothing else. But, it's a nice feature to have. Sure, someone can go to Google and limit searches to your domain, but doing this makes it more convenient for the user. And I am a strong believer that if something is worthwhile and convenient, people will return. Just my opinion.
Fortunately, Google provides free cut & paste code so you can have just that. All you have to do is paste in your site URL where it says "YOUR DOMAIN NAME". ...

This thing is like 10,000 pixels wide!

Fortunately, you can tweak a few things to shrink it to fit into your sidebar. ...

<!-- SiteSearch Google -->
<FORM method=GET action="http://www.google.com/search">
<TABLE bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tr>
<td>
<INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=25 maxlength=255 value="">
<INPUT type=submit name=btnG VALUE="Google Search">
<font size=-1>
<input type=hidden name=domains value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com"><br>
<input type=radio name=sitesearch value=""> WWW
<input type=radio name=sitesearch value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com" checked> Bad Money <br>
</font>
</td></tr></TABLE>
</FORM>
<!-- SiteSearch Google -->

...

There's also the bare-bones option which appears underneath, the code for which is:

<form action="http://www.google.com/search" target="_blank">
<INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=25 maxlength=255 value="">
<input class="go" type="submit" name="submit" value="Search Bad Money" />
<input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com" />
</form>

...

How well this works is debatable. It seems to be pretty good about picking up words in post titles. Words in the body of the entry or in comments... not so much. However, it's better than nothing.
Hmm. As it turns out, I had discovered this earlier and added Google search to this little blog a while back. Plus, I added it to ItsAPundit.com also.

So, this is a short and simple lesson. And I had done what it said already. So, I'm 1-0 for today. Not bad.

However, I wish I had found this post earlier. It would have been much easier to have followed Harvey's tips than have to figure it out myself, trying hit-and-miss code the whole way.

13 comments:

  1. I found that Technorati's sitesearch is much more thorough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the blogger bar at the top of the blogger blogs that have it turned on only seaches for stuff on the site you are viewing.

    If you are using blogger, don't bother adding the a google search unless you want people to search the web from your site.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tom, Tyler D., Mustang 23:
    I appreciate the tips and suggestions. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the code, I have been trying for a long time to get a google search box that fits. This does, time will tell whether it actually works, but it looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Diane:
    The thanks go to Harvey. Whenever he calls the debt I owe him due, I'll have to declare bankruptcy. There's no way I can ever repay him for all he'd done, said, and provided.

    ReplyDelete
  6. IS IT STILL USEFUL?

    A long time ago, I wrote a post about how to add the Google site-search feature to your sidebar, and Basil of Basil's blog does a review of it. I found the comments there interesting, because things have changed a...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Site search, etc.

    [THANK YOU, basil and Harvey!]

    I know it sucks that I haven't had a site search here. I've wanted to use Google's site search box, but the damn thing doesn't fit anywhere...but lo and behold, basil posted how to get it to fit, based on Harvey's ins...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Google Search

    I've finally added a Google search function to my blog, in case anyone feels the need to search through my old posts for something in particular. You can find it near the bottom of the right-hand sidebar.

    Thanks to Harvey at Bad Example for the ho...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the reminder, Basil. I knew there was something I forgot to fix when I did the domain change.

    Diane, I can give you the correct size for typepad sidebars. Email me, and I will set it up for you, if you want.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Site Search Functionality

    Basil has a series going on Learning To Blog. He is on Part VI: Site Search. Just wanted to chip in my 2 gold dubloons, and add a little bit. Also, you can visit Harvey,who really isn't a Bad Example,

    ReplyDelete
  11. Site Search Functionality

    Basil has a series going on Learning To Blog. He is on Part VI: Site Search. Just wanted to chip in my 2 gold dubloons, and add a little bit. Also, you can visit Harvey,who really isn't a Bad Example,

    ReplyDelete
  12. Blogging Tips

    As you know, I a fairly new to the world of blogging. So I have been reading and paying attention to experienced bloggers when they put out tips on being a better blogger.

    Here is some of the things I have found:

    ReplyDelete

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