Why You Need A Site Search Tool - Part 2

In Part 1 of Why You Need A Site Search Tool I talked about some of the advantages both the website owner and visitor can gain by adding this tool as well as a slick way to earn a few dollars at the same time.  In today's post, I'm going to talk about how these tools work and offer a few suggestions for you to explore.

Site search tools work in the same manner that the big Internet search engines work.  That is these tools are comprised of two separate components: the indexer and the retriever.  The indexer program is initiated by the site owner (or sometimes they can be programmed to index automatically) to sweep through your site's web pages.  Entries are written into a data file that the retriever program access whenever a visitor types their keywords into the search box.  A search results page is then generated with links to any applicable pages.

Similar to the Website Statistics articles I wrote last week, the site search tools can be hosted either on your own server or third-party's server.   That decision will be based on how much control you want to have and your comfort level in installing software.  In either case you'll be required to add a snippet of code to your pages that will display the search box.

There are literally hundreds of site search programs for you to evaluate.  Go to your favorite Search Engine and type in "site search tools" to see some of the big players.  For those of you who like to get into nitty-gritty of installing your own software, often times for free, visit HotScripts.com.  Type in "site search" and select your programming language of choice and click search.  You'll be presented with plenty of programs to choose from.

Some of the tools I've used over the years have been Google Free, Atomz, and Thunderstone Webinator.  For hosted solutions on a third-party server, you're going to pay based on the number pages that you index.  For software solutions that you install and host, then the costs range from free to thousands of dollars based on the features and technical support offered.

One product that I want to talk about is WrenSoft's Zoom Search Engine.  I was contacted by one of my clients recently to replace a site search tool they had installed several years ago.  This client is a non-profit and needed to index over 50,000 web pages.  Cost was a big issue with this client and the reason they were dumping their current site search provider.  The large number of web pages was a big stumbling block for many inexpensive search products.  After investigating dozens of  company's products I came across Zoom.  Zoom offered search tools written in PHP, ASP, and JavaScript.  But they also have a CGI version that was built to handle a large number of web pages.  And at $99 for their Pro Edition, this solution was a perfect fit.  To see this tool in action, visit GSENet.org.

I hope I was able to inspire you to give this powerful tool some consideration for your website.