My first shot at it, of course, is to create a Web Analytics specialized search engine where all solution and service providers would be presented, along with specialists and practitioners in the field.
Features
Configuration is a snap and provides good parametrization of the various features:
- definition and subject of your specialized search,
- indexed sites which can be exclusive or given preference in the search results,
- labeling the results, which ease refinement of search results,
- tweaking the look & feel,
- including a search box in your site,
- managing the collaborative aspects (contributors & volunteers) and doing invitations,
- setting up adSense
- and uploading annotations easily built with Google Marker (trough OPML or XML format).
Configuration
- Current number of sites in the Web Analytics specialized search: October 24th, 42
November 2nd, 80 - Refinements: Blogs, Solution, Services, Reference
- Collaborators: 1
Important! If you want to collaborate to enhance and extend this specialized search, send me a quick email (shamel67(at)gmail.com) or create a profile (provide your URL) so I know who you are. Otherwise your collaboration request will be rejected!
Caveats
Be warned that the Google Co-Op Search is still in beta... and it shows! After a few days of using it, here are some stuff to be careful with:- Collaboration is far from being complete. When someone asks to collaborate, you can't even see their email address. It is also possible to ask for contribution without a profile, which leads to some confusion about who is contributing...
- When adding new sites, be careful to use only the most meaningful URL. That is, avoid putting "http" (useless) and specify "www" only if it makes a difference, such as "www.iperceptions.com" vs " blog.iperceptions.com"
- Surprisingly, there is actually very little stats you can get to know if your search engine is being used or not. I would expect some Google Analytics hooked up to it.
- Of course, the concept only works if people actually use it and suggest sites to be indexed. I think the code to create a search box should be widely available to anyone who wants to use it on their site, not just the owner or contributors. Here's the code
<form id="searchbox_017598970026374442327:f6fozzzu_qk" action="http://www.google.com/cse">
<input type="hidden" name="cx" value="017598970026374442327:f6fozzzu_qk">
<input name="q" type="text" size="40">
<input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search">
<input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:1">
</form>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=searchbox_017598970026374442327%3Af6fozzzu_qk"></script>
<!-- Google CSE Search Box Ends -->