Google is discontinuing site search (GSS) as of April 1. Once a customer’s allocated search queries get exhausted, the Google site search (GSS) will convert to Google’s Custom Search Engine or CSE.
What is the difference between Google site search (GSS) and Google custom search (CSE)?-Google site search as the paid version and CSE is the free ad-supported version.
Can Google custom search replace Google site search? Yes, it can. But there are a few disadvantages-
- Ads will come on top of search results- Your site results will be demoted.
- Users could click on ads and leave your site.
- No technical support ( if something goes wrong you are on your own).
If you are ok with Showing ads, then google custom search is the easiest to switch to.
If not, there are many Google site search replacements available in the market. Expertrec is one of them and if you are moving to Expertrec’s site search, here are the steps to follow.
- Go to https://cse.expertrec.com?platform=cse
- Enter your website URL.
- Wait for the crawl to complete.
- Add code to your website.
- Take search live.
The search User interface will look like this for the search autocomplete-
