Tech Tool of the Week: Google Custom Search

This week's tech tip is yet another cool tool from Google. Did you know that you can create your own customized search engine? Google Custom Search allows you to build a search engine customized with content for your grade level or for a particular unit of study. 

To get a sense of what a Google Custom Search looks like, check out this kid-friendly search engine created by a teacher. Try typing a term into the search box and look at the results. You'll notice that the results look like any other Google Search results, but now take a closer look at the sources. All of the results are from pages that the search creator chose.

One great feature of Google Custom Search is the ability to invite collaborators to contribute to your search engine. You could collaborate with other teachers to create a customized Google search, or even have your students help you build the custom search engine. 

To create your own customized search engine, go to the Google Search Engine home page and click on the blue button that says “Create a custom search engine”. Now fill out the form. You’ll need a title and a short description for your search engine, plus a list of the sites you would like to add to your search. Once you’ve finished the form, click the next button and you are finished! You can now test your new search engine. If you think of additional sites you would like to add later on, you can always come back and tweak what you’ve done.

To learn more about creating a Google Custom Search, click here for instructions. You can also watch the quick introductory video below. If you're interested in learning about more advanced techniques, check out Google's detailed instructions here.