Search Labels

Google uses "search labels' to link together "sites" and refinements".

That is if you have a number of sites, and you want to "label" them with a refinement then you can specify this by using:

<Label name="shopping_comparisons" mode="BOOST"/>

section in the context.xml file (or Inline Annotations section of your cse.xml file.

The following example uses the pre-built shopping_comparisons label to promote shopping comparison sites in search results.

<GoogleCustomizations> <CustomSearchEngine volunteers="false"> <Title>Product Review</Title> <Description> Compare products features </Description> <Context> <BackgroundLabels> <Label name="shopping_comparisons" mode="BOOST"/> </BackgroundLabels> </Context> </CustomSearchEngine> </GoogleCustomizations>

# Pre-built Search Lables

Not only can you use the pre-built labels, but you can also enhance them by adding and removing sites from them. For example, if you find that some of the pages that Google has labeled shopping_comparisons are not shopping-comparison pages or that Google has missed some great shopping comparison sites, you can add or remove those sites. You can improve the shopping_comparisons label by adding the appropriate annotations in your search engine or in a collaborative search engine to which you have access.

# Testing Search Labels

If you are not sure how a search label might work, you can experiment with it by using the more: search operator in a custom search engine. Take the search label called forum, for instance. Search for cartoon on Google search.

Open a new browser window and this time, type more:forum cartoon in a custom search engine. Compare the search results between the normal search query and the search query appended with the more: operator and a search label.