My new Google Co-Op search engine

This week Google introduced a stunningly simple and powerful new service: anyone can now create their own custom search engine for personal or public use.

Each of us can choose the sites that we want to include in our own person Google search engine, and we can share in the advertising revenue that will come if other people use our engine.

Information Week article.

\”Marissa Mayer, vice-president of search products and user experience, said it was the most significant launch that Google would announce in the final months of this year. By letting companies and individuals build their own specialised search engines, it will also create competition for the many new “vertical” search products that have recently been launched on the web, she added.\” — Financial Times.

So here is my first version that I spent 10 minutes creating:

You can select all the sites that you want to include in your search or you can invite others to collaborate with you in selecting the sites.

When Google made AdSense available to publishers, it made it possible for many thousands of content web sites to generate advertising revenue in a very efficient way, without hiring a sales force. Now, these same web site publishers will have the ability to create customized search engines for their customers. This is a great move by Google. It will be another boon to publishers and entrepreneurs who take advantage of it.