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In the old days, the promotion of a website required a variety of techniques. Among these were the submitting of your site to link directories, article marketing and contributing to forums related to your niche. Of course, all of these means of website promotion are still valid, but thinking out of the box is required sometimes. One idea that some have taken on as a means to potentially drive targeted traffic to their site is the use of a Google Custom Search Engine (GCSE).

When I say they promote their site through the use of a GCSE, what I really mean is that they own their own search engine and make use of the Google search database as a means to power it while shamelessly and artificially promoting their own sites and products.

It is no secret that when it comes to self promotion, a third party recommendation is a golden opportunity for any business to serve it's own interests. With respect to third party recommendations, this is exactly what search engines do. They serve results based around their algorithm-based opinion of what results are relevant with respect to a certain search term. But, what if you could harness the power of an enormous search engine index and literally manipulate the results so as to include or promote certain sites, namely yours, and exclude your competitors. A custom search engine can do exactly that if, and that is a big if, you can build it into a trusted resource.

The nice thing about the GCSE platform is the fact that you already have access to their index. They make it freely available to any and all webmasters who want to use it. So how does one build a custom search platform?

Building you own search website is a strikingly simple process, but keep in mind that we want our custom search engine to be a third party to our own site, not related in any way. For that reason, we would want to put it under a domain name separate from our own and hosting separate from our own. One thing I have seen some custom search engine builders to is create a themed custom search engine that boasts highly tuned, relevant results around a given niche.

To do this yourself, simply log on to Google Custom Search. If you do not have an account, start one and then click on the "new search engine" link. Next, give your search engine a name as well as a description.

Once you have given your GCSE a name and description, next apply the niche keywords that your custom search engine will be based around. Then, select what language your custom search engine will be using. This is a great feature for region-specific custom search engines.

Now comes the fun part. The next options are based around the search results themselves. You have the ability to select how to search included sites. You can either list out the approved sites to show in the search results, or you can set your custom search engine to list all relevant results for a particular search query in the Google database while emphasizing or promoting the selections on your list. There you have it, blatant self promotion.

Additionally, the option of showing ads, which can be linked with an Adsense account, or not showing ads is left up to the search master. A custom search engine like this can be monetized in several ways. Google ads can easily be removed and custom links or banners put in their place. Additionally, paid results can be offered by the selling of placement on the emphasized sites list.

A search engine like this can be set up very easily. All that is required is basic understanding of HTML and a little graphic design to make it look professional.

For a Google custom search engine to work for your website, it will have to become a trusted resource which means actively managing and promoting it just as you would your own website. Make sure that it is not related to your site in any way which means putting it on it's own domain and hosting. If successful, a GCSE can make a powerful third party recommendation.

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