More Theme Tweaking
I was never satisfied with the default search widget for WordPress. I tried other plugins and such and they didn't do much better. I knew that Google Search did a pretty good job, but I never knew how to make it work decently on my blog. Until today, that is.
Earlier this evening, I spotted an article about Google "AdSense for Search" on eJabs. I used his search button a couple of times to see how his page came up and I told myself I wanted to do it like that. So I followed the link for a "how to" at LiewCF. I tried to follow all the steps but had difficulty at first.
I created the page and everything, as instructed, but could not find an option to specify a different page template. I rooted around in the templates for the default theme and discovered that the theme author left out the line for the template name. My page template was not named, so that option didn't even come up in the editor. I added the line and then the editor gave me the option. After that, it was nothing more than adjusting the width, centering, etc. Now I have Google Search instead of the default search.
I had to move a couple of things around because the Google Search widget is taller than the default one. No problem… 5 minutes in my sidebar file and I was done.
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Peter at Necessary Skills doesn't write as many articles as I do, but he puts more into each article than I could ever think of doing. Speaking of thinking, every one of his articles makes me think. If my brain hurts, it's usually his fault.
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Looks good buddy…
Not only that, but it will help you bring in more revenue…on that note…you'd have better usage & revenue if you placed it directly below your top menu, centered, just above your content.
Either way, you're giving your readers a better option because now they can search your site, or search the entire web…right from UV!
Good job RT.
I like the default search better when it's available for a particular tool. On my reviews website where I don't have any search functionality, I use the google search.
You have to wait for articles to get indexed though before it works properly.
Thanks RT appreciate the mention and where do I send the asprin
Looks like he even added a plugin for it a few days later: http://www.liewcf.com/blog/archives/2006/11/wordpress-plugin-for-google-adsense-search-result/
Even a plugin doesn't help when the theme author leaves out important lines.
RT
Have you seen any adsense earnings from your search engine? Or was the switch motivated entirely by results?
Scott
I haven't checked to see if they've earned me anything. The search results is my primary motivation for using it. The results are a lot more relevant when looking for key words or phrases. The default search results give you every blog post with a certain word in it, even when it's not relevant. Use more than one word and the relevancy gets worse.
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