Google has disclosed the fact that it is about to shut Site Search for good, through an e-mail sent to its customers and partners on Tuesday. The information has not been publicly announced yet.
In case you are unaware of it, Google Site Search (previously known as Google Custom Search Business Edition) is an edition of Google Custom Search that has been designed and created specifically for websites that want to add the company’s search capabilities to their own platforms. With Site Search, any website can add a custom search field of their own to their websites. And yes, the custom field is powered by the same technology that runs the world’s most popular website, Google.com.
Site search has actually been around since 2008, so it is rather surprising that the company has suddenly decided to let go of it. Particularly since its was a paid product and required users to shell out money depending upon the number of searches they made. Pricing varied depending upon the number of searches you needed. So, 20,000 searches for a year required you to shell out $100, while you got 500,000 queries for $2,000 per annum.
Meanwhile, the company is now reverting back to its free, ad-supported version that goes under the name of “Custom Search Engine”. It has pretty much same capabilities as the Site Search but instead of being paid, its free. Great, right? Well, not so if you wanted an ad-free experience. Like we said, the custom search engine is free but ad-supported. Site search catered to customers who would rather do without the ads and now, they would be left without an option to turn to.
Google will stop the sale of new licenses and will stop renewing old ones starting April, 1st. Meanwhile, existing licenses that are set to expire between April 1 and June 30 will be extended for an additional three months by Google. The company will continue offering customer and technical support until the existing licenses expires.
