Little Handy Tips
Google Custom Search WordPress Plugin
The Google Custom Search WordPress Plugin uses Google’s search engine to search your site’s contents!
WordPress has a relatively good search functionality but tends to get sluggish and doesn’t match keywords that well. This is even more apparent when your site is quite large and you have many posts and/or pages. In addition, wordpress search functionality display results ordered by date and not by its relevance to the keywords.
Also Google Custom Search Engine is not limited to just your site. You can configure it through google to search multiple sites/domains.
Or how about having a search Engine with searches all websites within your blog’s niche?
Combining Google’s search engine along the familiarity of their interface, this is a must have plugin for all websites.
The plugin is very flexible and you can configure the both the search box and the search results.
Google Custom Search widget’s search box can be displayed as either a widget or placed anywhere in the code.
The search results can be displayed in one of three formats.
- As a pop-up resizable dialog.
- Within the widget, under the search box.
- Displayed anywhere in the code.
Screenshots
See Google Custom Search Engine WordPress Plugin in Action
- Little Handy Tips – We use the plugin on our own site to display the search results as a pop-up dialog.
- Wollongong Fitness – A fitness website which has the display of the search results customized to be displayed in a different place.
Donate
If you find the Google Custom Search Engine WordPress Plugin useful, show your support and make a donation.
Installation
This section describes how to install the google custom search engine wordpress plugin and get it working.
- Upload the folder `google-custom-search` to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory.
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Go to the Options and configure the Google Custom Search.*
*You might need to setup a Custom Search Engine Account with Google. - Add Google Custom Search Widget.
Advanced Configuration
Display Search Box
To display the search-box anywhere in the code, the following method should be used
<?php display_search_box($display_results_option); ?>
where $display_results_option is one of the following three options.
DISPLAY_RESULTS_AS_POP_UP – displays the search results as a pop-up resizeable dialog
DISPLAY_RESULTS_IN_UNDER_SEARCH_BOX – displays the search results under the search box
DISPLAY_RESULTS_CUSTOM – displays the search results in the place you have specified.
Below is an example.
<?php display_search_box(DISPLAY_RESULTS_AS_POP_UP); ?>
Display Search Results
To specify a location where the search result is to be displayed, the following method should be used.
<?php display_gsc_results(); ?>
Change Log
- Version 1.3
- Added multilingual support.
- Added option to have results displayed in current window instead of a new window.
- Added option to not display search button.
- Version 1.2
- Fixes problem where plugin interferes with other wordpress drag and drop functionality.
- Version 1.1
- Added support for multiple custom search boxes in a single page.
- Version 1.0
- Initial Release
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Does this plugin replaces the wordpress plugin?
Yes and No.
The Google Custom Search plugin does not override the wordpress search functionality.
You can choose to have it replace wordpress’s search but removing their search and putting this plugin instead.
Q. My current website search box is not in a widget. Can I replace wordpress search with this plugin?
Yes. You sure can.
You will need to modify the wordpress theme you are using and replace the wordpress search code with this plugin’s API.
To display the search-box anywhere in the code, refer to the section above on Advanced Configuration
Q. How do I specify where the search results are to be displayed?
The search results can be configured within the widget to display in one of three options.
- As a pop-up dialog.
- Within the widget.
- In an area you specify.
If you want to specify the location for the results to be displayed, you will need to do the following.
- Make sure the setting on the widget for “Display Results” is set to “Elsewhere”
- Add the following line of code into your wordpress theme at where you want to results to be displayed.
<?php display_gsc_results(); ?>
Q. Can Google Custom Search search other/multiple websites?
Yes.
This configuration will need to be done with Google and documentation for that is provided by them.
Go to http://www.google.com/cse/manage/all to configure your Google Custom Search Engine.
Q. How do I create a Google Custom Search Engine?
Go to http://www.google.com/cse/manage/create and follow the instructions.
More Questions or Comments?
There is now a Forum for supporting this plugin
As there are now too many comments on this page, I’ve created a forum for support of the plugin. It’ll make it easier for plugin users to browse through the list of questions which have already been asked before. If you have any questions regarding the plugin, please go to http://forum.littlehandytips.com
If you’re having problems with getting the plugin to work, take a look at 3 Easy Steps to Diagnose WordPress Plugin Problems.
Also even though the plugin is free, providing support can be time-consuming. Therefore if you like to make a donation, it will be greatly appreciated. I don’t always have time to respond to all support requests, but if you make a donation, I will make your question a priority. Thanks.
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This is a really a nice plugin buddy! I really like the search result interface using the jQuery UI! Would be great if u make one for Adsense for Search also…
Thanks for the positive feedback Swashata.
Google Custom Search allows a user to monetize it by linking it to Adsense, but a Adsense for Search plugin is definitely something worth considering!
Thanks for the tip!
Cheers,
Edwin
thank you for the great solution
Can I use the code more than once on the page? Sidebar and footer is what I need and it doesn’t seem to work.
Hi Lou,
Thanks for your feedback on the plugin.
Version 1.0 of the plugin does not allow having more than 1 google custom search box on the page.
Having received your feedback, I’ve just released version 1.1 which supports having multiple search boxes on a single page.
Cheers,
Edwin
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Good plugin , but I have a problem. If I active the plugin. Google Custom plugin kill my WordPress WYSIWYG editor popup function. Need inavtive Google Custom Search.
Hi Leo,
Thanks for the feedback. Is the WordPress WYSIWYG editor an external plugin? I don’t seem to be having the problem you mention.
Also what version of wordpress are you using?
Thanks,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
I am using WordPress 3.0.1 and default WYSIWYG editor. When I active Google Custom Search plugin and edit old post. The upload photo window not popup. Thanks for you support.
Hi Leo,
Are you only having the problem with old posts?
Also what web browser are you using?
Regards,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
I am using Chrome Browser. The problem with new & old posts. After install the Google Custom Search plugin. I cleared the browser cache and WordPress cache.
When I inactive Google Custom Search plugin. The WordPress WYSIWYG editor work fine. I tried re-active Google Custom Search plugin and the WYSIWYG editor problem comes again.
Thanks for you help.
Edwin,
I think I’m having a similar problem as Leo describes.
My drag-n-drop on the widget config page is fine then I activate the GCS plugin and the widgets become ungrabbable. I deactivate the plugin and they are back to their draggable selves.
I’ve tried this on Mac OS 10.6 with latest versions of Safari, FF, and Chrome.
I’m on WP 3.01 with the 1.1 plugin.
Thanks!
Hi Leo and Chris,
I have a new version of the plugin available which should address the issues you both are having. The fix is in version 1.1 of the plugin. Please let me know if you’re still having problems.
Regards,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
The new version fixed the WYSIWYG problem. Still have problem. The Widget only show within widget if I use popup.
Thanks for you help.
Hey Leo,
What is your website address? I might have to take a look at the site to investigate this issue.
Edwin,
That did it for my widget issue.
Thank you for the great plugin and support!
C.
No worries mate. Glad to resolve the issue! Thanks for using the plugin!
Hi Edwin,
My url http://www.plzon.com ?The Google Custom Search plugin widget using pop-up, but the search result still show within widget.Thanks!!!
Hi Leo, I’ve just released version 1.2.1.
I believe that should resolve the issue.
Thanks,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
Cool, The version 1.2.1 resolved the pop-up problem,Super Thanks for help.
Hey Leo,
Glad to hear that the problem’s resolved
hi. I added the plugin on another site, entered the id then added the widget. I tested it, a pop up box shows up but doesnt show any results… any ideas?
Hi Tiara,
Thanks for installing the plugin.
What is your search engine id?
And what’s the url for the website you have the plugin installed.
I’ll test your search engine id out and also take a look at the plugin on your site to see if I can determine the issue.
Hi,
I was using the earlier version of the plugin and it was working perfectly. However, since I updated to 1.2.1, the google search has stopped working. Do not see any results. Can you please help…thanks!!
Hi Alok,
I’m looking into this now. Do you know which version which was working perfectly for you? Version 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2 ?
I am having the same issue. I just downloaded the latest version. I thought that maybe I typed my website in wrong through google custom search control panel, but everything is fine. Not sure why it isn’t working.
Hi Josh,
Just want to let you know that I’m looking into this.
I just noticed that the you have an extra whitespace at the end of your Search Engine unique id.
e.g:
“095382442174838362754:hisuukncdfg ” when it should be
“095382442174838362754:hisuukncdfg”
Could you please go to the google custom search options and remove the whitespace at the end of the search engine unique id and let me know if that fixes the problem.
Thanks,
Edwin
Hey Edwin,
Sorry for the slow reply! I honestly wasn’t expecting such a quick reply. I am really impressed with your plug-in and hard work you have done.
I feel a little dumb. I went in and did the recommended change to my search engine id and it fixed the problem. I can’t believe I looked that over!
Thanks for your help. It is a new site so it isn’t picking up everything yet. But your plug-in is working perfectly!
Thanks
Hey Josh,
Thanks for the compliment. Glad to hear that the plugin is working good on your site!
Hello, Thanks so much for the plug in . I do have a question however. How do i get the search widget to display the results on a different page? not a pop up or with in the widget. I want to send the results to a new page. On the new page i want to edit the look too so it doesn’t look like the front page. Please let me know if i can some how put in a redirect url or something. Thanks so much
Hi Matt, thanks for downloading the plugin.
The plugin isn’t designed to display the results on a new page.
However I might include this option in the plugin’s next release.
Stay tuned!
Edwin
Thanks so much for the very quick response. the client will just go with the pop up until this is implemented. Thanks again Edwin you are a superb developer.
Any update on if you’ll add the functionality to display the results on a different page? If this was implemented, this plugin would be perfect
Hi Edwin,
Hope you are well and thank you for creating this plugin
I’ have two questions.
1. Can you add ad sense ads for the popup option?
2. How do I get the search to only search my website cause it shows results not relevant to my page. I’ve used my unique setup Search engine unique ID
Hi Clinton,
Thank you for downloading the plugin. Below are the answers to your questions.
1. Can you add ad sense ads for the popup option?
Currently, I’m not sure how to add adsense for popups. When you use google custom search, it looks like google displays the search results first before displaying the adsense. I suspect the rendering of the popup box (with its different size) is causing the ads to not appear.
2. How do I get the search to only search my website cause it shows results not relevant to my page. I’ve used my unique setup Search engine unique ID
To do this, you need to configure your google custom search engine using the following steps.
Step 1) Go to http://www.google.com/cse/manage/all (you might need to login to google before going to that link).
Step 2) Go to the Control Panel for your search engine.
Step 3) Once in the Control Panel, using the menu on the left column, click on “Sites”
Step 4) Then you need to enter the url for what you want the custom search engine to restrict the search to. For this website, I used *.littlehandytips.com/*
Hope this helps and apologies for not being to get the adsense ads appearing on the popup option.
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could you be more specific in stating your tutorials? Its too general
I am using your google search on my wordpress blog, and love it. The only question I have, is how do you get it to not open a new brower window when someone clicks on a search link?
Hi Mike,
The plugin currently only have the functionality to open the search links in a new browser.
I can add an option to choose whether to the links open in either the current browser window or a new window.
But if it is opened in the same window, then the search results will be gone (as the browser will load a new page). Is that what the intention is?
Let me know if this is something that you like and I should have a new version of the custom search available in a few days time.
Cheers,
Edwin
Hi Mike,
I’ve just released version 1.3 of the google custom search wordpress plugin. There is now an option in the settings to have results displayed in the existing window, instead of a new browser window.
Edwin
Hello,
I want to remove the “search” button in the widget, but I can’t change the code to do so.
See my blog and you will understand why I wanted removed hehehe
How could I change that?
Hey Rafael,
Sorry, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to remove the search button. It’s automatically created by Google Custom Search. I’ll let you know if I figure it out.
Cheers,
Edwin
Add this code to gsc.css I try and it work
td.gsc-search-button {
display: none !important;
}
div.gsc-clear-button {
display: none !important;
}
Hi Rafael,
I’ve just updated the google custom search wordpress plugin to version 1.3. There is now the option to remove the search button from the plugin settings.
Cheers,
Edwin
Hello Edwin,
I don’t know why, but my post was deleted.
I want to remove the “search” button from my widget.
How can I do that?
When in WordPress admin pages, where do you insert the Google unique id to limit the search?
Hi Andrea,
In the WordPress Admin pages, there is a option called “Google Custom Search” under settings where you can insert this Google unique id.
Cheers,
Edwin
Nice job with the plugin. It works as advertised.
I was able to slightly change the look and feel of the search box, button, and pop-up search results window to match my website by modifying the CSS file (see http://www.concertinamusic.com/ ). However, there are some limits to what can be done, mostly due to the Google javascript.
It would be great if you could find a way to add options for the button label (i.e. “Go” instead of “Search”) or button style.
Thanks!
Hi Yagelski,
Thanks for the feedback. I like the way you have customized the search box to match your website’s theme. And like you said, it is difficult to modify the button label as it is rendered by Google.
Edwin
Fix for multilingual:
For search-box.php
<div id="” style=”width: 100%;”>
google.load(‘search’, ’1′, {language : ‘<?php echo get_locale() ?> ‘});
http://pastebin.com/bmGMXbps
Thanks Mate,
I’ll put the changes in the code and release it in the next few days.
Cheers,
Edwin
The plugin is very good, but I’m not understanding if it is the same of “AdSense for Search” or not. Contextual AdSense ads are alwyas displayed, or not?
Hi DrLightman,
I’m not too sure either, but in terms of the Ads, I think it is the same as “Adsense for search”.
Apologize, it’s always me. But I don’t seem to be able to make the results load into a static page by template, let’s say /google-search/ , how could this be achieved?
Hi DrLightman,
The google custom search wordpress plugin does not display the results on a static page. That was never the intention of the plugin.
The plugin allows 3 different ways for displaying the results:
- As a pop-up lightbox
- Under the search box in the widget
- or in a custom location in the same page.
Hope this helps.
Edwin
I 100% agree that, it is a great plug-in, I am a new blogger and will try to donate at a later stage.
I try to use the plugin but the pop up option dont work, the results appear in the top of the page.
Hi Jarby,
It sounds like you might have another <div> tag which have the same id as the pop-up search results box. The pop-up search box uses id=’dialog’. Maybe I might try to release a new version of the plugin with a unique id.
Great plugin What is the small red black box with the red 1 at the bottom of my pop-up search results?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Jason, the black box is to indicate the number of pages for the search results. For your case, there was only 1 page of results for the search term.
My cse is configured to search in same sites. When I use the plugin it searches all the web. Somethin wrong?
Paulo
Hi Paulo, double check the google custom search id that you have entered into the plugin. make sure there are no spaces after the id. That could be a possible cause.
if that doesn’t solve the problem go to Google custom search control panel http://www.google.com/cse/manage/all and preview your custom search engine. That way you can confirm if your cse configurations are correct.
Thank You.
Now that’s ok: partner-pub-095382442174838362754:hisuukncdfg (e.g). In the first time I inputed in the plugin the id without “partner-pub”, just the numbers. Was the exemple in the plugin instrutions.
Another question: where must I put the code to obtain the results in the main frame, like in Wollongong Fitness?
Paulo
Hi Paulo,
For the results to appear on the main frame like in http://WollongongFitness.com, you need to make the changes in your theme’s template. This can be done under the Appearance -> Editor menu in the wordpress admin area.
It’s hard to say where to put the code as it depends on how the wordpress theme is structured. The best way is to play around with it using trial-an-error before you’ll find a good spot for the code.
For wollongong fitness, the code was added into the “Main Index Template” (index.php). It was added to the second line, right under
<?php get_header(); ?>
and the code that was added was:
<!– Google Site Search –>
<?php display_gsc_results(); ?>
The code can be found
Hope this helps.
Edwin
You said the following…
2. Add the following line of code into your wordpress theme at where you want to results to be displayed.
Now, where exactly do I place this code into the theme?
I want to place it so it could look like the example you have shown.
http://wollongongfitness.com/
Do I place this code in the Page??? maybe???
Please help me understand what you mean when you just say place this code in the theme.
Thanks,
Al
Hi Al Miller,
You need to edit your wordpress theme template files. This can be done under the Appearance -> Editor menu in the wordpress admin area.
It’s hard to say where to put the code as it depends on how the wordpress theme is structured. The best way is to play around with it using trial-an-error before you’ll find a good spot for the code.
For wollongong fitness, the code was added into the “Main Index Template” (index.php). It was added to the second line, right under
<?php get_header(); ?>
and the code that was added was:
<!– Google Site Search –>
<?php display_gsc_results(); ?>
The code can be found
Hope this helps.
Edwin
If you add it just to the index.php file the the search results will only show when the user searches from the homepage. As soon as they leave the homepage to goto say a Category page then the search box doesn’t work. you actually have to go to every php file and add this snippet of code mentioned. Also when you do this the search results just push down the content on that page, it doesn’t reload the page. So you don’t actually capture a “page view” for search in Google Analytics. I see a lot of holes when using custom search results… or am I missing something?
Hi Mukesh,
That depends on the theme you are using, you might be able to get away with putting the snippet of code in the header.php file too.
Edwin
Hi! Really nice plugin but like others, the CSS styling issues are major. Very hard for me to get this to look remotely nice in a 160px sidebar. I didn’t realize Google was the one dictating the entry form layout. I was just hoping for a simple field without the clear [X] nor the separate “Search” button. Anyone figured out the CSS to do that??
Thanks,
Rick
“WordPress Search is TERRIBLE!”
Thank you for the plugin, it’s the best solution I’ve found for integrating the search function between my organization’s main website and the various WordPress installs we use for additional functions.
One quick question, though. My WordPress theme has a fairly narrow sidebar where the widget will be placed. Is there any way to format the search box so that the “Search” button appears below the input box? Currently the button overlays the box and will only show three characters.
Thank you!
Hi Wendy,
The custom search box and “Search button” are generated by Google and so far, I haven’t been able to find a way to move it or remove it.
If I discover how to do it, I’ll put that option into the plugin.
Sorry about that.
Edwin
Hi,
Thanks for the plugin.
One question, how can I display the results in a page?
Thanks
Hi Tommy,
This plugin does not display the result on a new page. That’s not the intention of the plugin.
Cheers,
Edwin
I love this plugin but it keeps searching the entire web instead of my site like I have it configured in Google. Maybe this is a google issue. I’m not sure.
Hi Krissy,
Double check the search engine unique id that you have inserted. It should look something like the following:
partner-pub-095382442174838362754:hisuukncdfg
Also make sure there are no spaces at the start and end of the id.
And if that still doesn’t work, go to Google custom search control panel http://www.google.com/cse/manage/all and preview your custom search engine. That way you can confirm if your cse configurations are correct.
hi, ctrl+f hasnt found anything, so i try it this way:
i have selected the option to display the search results as a popup. ist there a possibility to open the links from the results in the same window? can i replace some code with something like “a target = _self” somewhere in your code (coundt find it myself)?
sincerely,
extide
Hey i have got it, may be some1 else has got the same problem as me
if you want to open the results, which are being displayed in the pop-up mode, in the same window, here you go:
open searchbox.php and add the line
customSearchControl.setLinkTarget(google.search.Search.LINK_TARGET_SELF);right after “customSearchControl.enableAds(’2496164227′);”
Sincerely,
Sergey Kovalev
Hi, i love your plugin and it work perfectly except for one thing, the pupop option doesnt work in internet explorer.
Its perfect in firefox and in chrome.
Thanks
How did you eliminate the “search” button?
ie works fine for me, really
I’m please with the function of this better search option for WordPress blogs, but haven’t figure out a better way to modify the search box and button. There must be a better way to create a ‘slimmer’ search option for those using narrow sidebar columns?
Is there any way to use the Google ‘default’ look that has CSS coding of a slimmer button and smaller text box?
So far this is definitely an improved search for WordPress installs.
Great plugin! Thanks!
I am using it on Links.com as a pop-up. There doesn’t seem to be a vertical scroll bar available on the pop-up. Is this how it was meant to be?
Thanks again.
Hi. I have added as pop-up but the pop-up turns out behind my video posts (youtube embedded) Is there a way to resolve this.
Hi JohnRoach,
It looks like only a very small section of the pop-up box is behind the youTube post. It’s not blocking the search results text and the pop-up box is movable.
Edwin
Hi, nice plugin.
I have 3 questions.
1- Do you plan to add the option to display results in a page ? (is there a hack in the meantime ?)
2- Theres no option to change the text of “search” and “Search results”, that would be nice for translations.
3- How to enable adsense for search ? As the popup does not display them.
Thanks.
Hi Everyone,
I’ve just released version 1.3 of the google custom search plugin.
The changes are:
* Added multilingual support.
* Added option to have results displayed in current window instead of a new window.
* Added option to not display search button
I am glad to see my suggestion in the new release
Good job!
Hi Edwin,
i get this error when activating:
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare gsc_activate() (previously declared in /…absolute path…/wp-content/plugins/google-custom-search/google-custom-search.php:37) in /…absolute path…/wp-content/plugins/google-custom-search/google-custom-search.php on line 38
any ideas?
thanks,
Cezar
Hi Cezar,
From the Fatal error message you printed, it sounds like the gsc_activate() is declared twice, once on line 37 and another on line 38?
Can you take a look at that file to see if this is the case? You can do that by going to the wordpress dashboard and under Plugins, select Editor and then select on the google custom search plugin.
Then select to edit/view file google-custom-search.php
Also what version of the plugin are you using? Is it version 1.3?
Cheers,
Edwin
not sure how, but that sorted itself.
i am now facing another issue. it doesnt seem to allow multiple instances. trying to add one in header and one in the body of a page. doesnt work anymore. the one in the header doesnt display results anymore.
the one in body does not show the autocomplete and displays results from google not my site.
did i do something wrong?
thanks
I’m also having a Fatal error after I upgraded to the latest version this morning (sorry, I can’t tell what it is as it just shows version 1.3). When activating, it says “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting ‘,’ or ‘;’ in /home/amincous/ramenramenramen.net/wp-content/plugins/google-custom-search/installer.php on line 14″.
Any idea what the problem is?
Hi edjusted,
Thanks for highlight this problem. I’ve fixed it and have released it as version 1.3.1
And you got me thinking of getting ramen for lunch now!
Cheers,
Edwin
Edwin, Wow, thanks for the quick fix!! (and yeah, ramen is good pretty much any time of day!)
Thanks,
Ed
You mention that in version 1.3 you have added an option to not display search button. How do I activate that option?
Thanks
Hi grobegni,
you can set to not display the search button in the plugin’s settings options page. This is the same page where you would enter your google custom search id.
Cheers,
Edwin
Hi Edwin. This plugin is just fantastic.
We were trying to integrate google custom search to our church’s news websites, and it works fine on the English one ( http://ns.ieab.org.br ). However, the one in Portuguese ( http://sn.ieab.org.br ) shows a blank popup window only. If I change the widget settings to “within widget,” it works just fine. Do you have any idea of what could be happening? We’re using the latest version of this plugin.
Thank you very much.
Hi Luiz,
I just took a look at your website and I’m not sure why it is not working for the Portuguese site.
I’ll keep investigating and will let you know if I discover what the issue is.
Thanks,
Edwin
In your 1.3.1 js/gsc.js file, the dialog array has an extra comma at the end (line 9) after modal: true:
// Dialog
$('#dialog').dialog({
autoOpen: false,
width: 600,
modal: true,
});
I think most browsers take this as a valid array, but IE 7 barfs on it. Removing the trailing comma allowed IE7 to build the interface correctly.
re-posting this. i’m afraid it got lost in the flow. anyone has any solution?
it doesnt seem to allow multiple instances. trying to add one in header and one in the body of a page. it doesnt work anymore as it should. the one in the header doesnt display results anymore.
the one in body does not show the autocomplete and displays results from google not from my site.
did i do something wrong?
thanks
two instances not working – you can see the problem here: http://groundviews.org/archive/
Hi Cezar, apologies for the late reply. I’m on holidays at the moment (still am) so am not checking my emails and blogs that often. I just took a look at your website http://groundviews.org/archive/ and tested both search functionality in the header and footer and they worked for me. Did you figure it out?
I tested it using Safari and Chrome by the way.
unfortunately it seems there isn’t a solution to this. too bad. otherwise, the plugin was good.
cheers,
Cezar
Thank you for this great plugin. But I have a problem: When I select Hide Widget Format, the search box comes under the title of the widget below. What is meant to happen?
I have a multilingual site (with automatic translation by Transposh plugin). Google return search results in all languages. Is there a way to configure the results to be in the same language as the page you search from like the WordPress search?
Hi Stig, from what i know, the google search should return results in the language defined by the browser. So if the browser’s language is Norwegian, then I should think that the results be returned in that language.
Hi,
Love this plug-in, thank you!
Just to let you know there is a typo in gsc.js – an extra comma on line 9. Throws up an error in IE….
H
Thanks Heather for the feedback.
Thanks for the plug in but where do I put the codes? I added the code for the Google Custom Search widget on the sidebar and that shows up on the sidebar but not yours.
hi
)
:p
i would like to know how:
1.I can replace my wordpress search with this plugin
2.Add code for adsense ( i have a valid adsense account,i just dont know where to put the code
3.How can i customise the search page to open in a new tab,displaying the ads on top?
P.s-my website is in wordpress,and the only knowledge i have of html/php is how to hyperlink
Thanks in advance
I see only loading if I try it with insert code
()to page.Why?
Hi Edwin,
Why does Google Custom not find the newest posts? My website loads new posts every hour or so (via RSS), but when searching it seems to show only the older posts and not the new ones. What can I do to solve this problem? Thanks in advance!
Hi Erwin,
Google custom search plugin uses google to search the contents of your website. If it is not showing up, it is probably because google hasn’t indexed yet site yet.
To solve the problem, you can use Google Webmasters tools, create a profile for your site and have the google crawl bot index your site more regularly.
Hope this helps.
Edwin
Edwin
Can I customize the search results so that 1.) it only searches a posts’ tags. and 2.) when it shows the search results the whole post is shown not just post’s title?
Hi Joe,
1) One way you can do this is to use permalinks in your wordpress site. Say if you’re using the permalink http://yoursitewebsite.com/posts/post-title, then you can setup the custom search to only display results from http://yoursitewebsite.com/posts/*
2) Don’t think you can set it up to display the whole post. This is because you’re using google’s search engine and the results displayed would be similar to what you would see on google.com
Hope this helps,
Edwin
It is great plugin and awesome support … just want to know if there is some hack to use the plugin with adsense for search ?
Hi Krishna,
In your google custom search control panel, you are able to link your adsense account to your custom search. Look under the control panel option Make money
Hope this helps,
Edwin
This works great on /guide/
We will be rolling it out to /clubs/events/ and /media/
Question. Is it hackable to run on a non-wordpress page?
The homepage in not wordpress but it is based on php.
Hi 411 New York,
To use the google custom search on a non-wordpress page, simply login to google custom search control panel and copy the code snippet to your site.
Cheers,
Edwin
That is what we have there but we won’t have your popup feature.
Eventually, we will install WordPress in root then mod the skin.
The drawback is the use of server space and another SQL database.
If I see how to emulate it on a non-wordpress page, I’ll say
in your “share a tip” section.
On the Wollongong Fitness site the search results appear stacked vertically. The results appear cleanly. On my page the search results show up vertically and with some on the right. The right side overlaps the sidebar. How do I get the results stacked like the Wollongong site?
Hi Daniel,
I believe the problem is in where you put the display search results code <?php display_gsc_results(); ?>
You put that snippet code between <div id=”main”> <div id=”container”>
I think it should be placed just after
<div id=”container”>
try than and see if it works.
Hi Edwin,
I moved the code to where you said and its giving me a problem. Now the search results overlap the sidebar. How do I fix it?
Thanks!
Hi Edwin, can you please help me with my website issue? Please see my prior comment.
Hi Daniel, apologies for only replying now as I had been away on travels for the last few weeks. I took a look at your site and it seems like you managed to get it fix. It’s looking great now.
Hi,
This is a really useful plugin, but I wonder if there is any way to control the font color of the search button text… there doesn’t seem to be an option on the Google site, and I’ve had a poke around the css file and can’t find a way to do it… any thoughts?
Many thanks!
First off, thank you so much for this beautiful add on. It is rare to find something so useful for free now a days.
After reading “all” of your comments ( i didn’t want to ask something someone else already did). I have want might be a simple question. I love my search bar on my site, it is integrated well into my header. I was hoping to use it as my search bar and not the google one.
Is it possible to ad a line of code to keep the integrity of the original search bar and have it give me the results that your plugin gives?
Thank You in advance
- J.C.
Hi jc,
Not sure what you mean here. Are you asking to use the existing wordpress search box but display the google custom search results?
Popup does not work on current versions of Webkit based browsers tested in Safari, Chrome and Midori all display the popup at the top left of the browser.
Hi there,
Wonderful plugin.. but i’m having the same problems as Chris.. The pop up window worked fine a few days ago but now it’s displaying the search results in the sidebar itself.
Any fix for this?
Problem seems to be with Firefox 3.6, Chrome, Safari, Opera.
Hey.. ignore my comment.. i checked a bit and it was a plugin conflict.. Better WordPress Minify that was causing the issues.
For others, would be a good idea to de-activate and then reactive the plugins one by one to eliminate a plugin conflict issue.
Cheers.
Hi,
I’m just finishing this site. I’ve got your plugin and it works really fine, thanks. The only problem is the google button. I can not use it because it is so big and so ugly. And I can’t figure out a way to change it. Could you give me any idea? Thanks.
Hi Geraldo,
You might one to try playing around with the gsc.css file to see if you can change it. But I doubt you have much flexibility. Took a look at your site and saw that you have removed the button altogether, that looks quite well for your site.
Nice plugin, but it breaks my site’s layout.
I don’t use the widget, I call the display_search_box() function directly on my functions.php
I see that it generated a table (I don’t like tables, but I can live with it) and that is create an ID “cse-search-form99″. I suppose that the “99″ isn’t a permanent number. Could be possible to have also a colass for this table?
Even better, I’d liek to suggest a new feature, where users chan create a template file in their’s template folder.
Thanks.
Hi Andrea,
You’re right that the 99 isn’t a permanent number. This was introduced because some users like to add more than one search engine box to their website. What’s a colass??
Also thanks for the suggestion for the new feature.
Edwin
Hi, Edwin,
Thank you very much for creating and maintaining the excellent Google Custom Search plugin.
I noticed you’re running it with no problems in WordPress 3.1.2. For me, the latest WP update seems to have broken the plugin. Results no longer open in a new window — they shoot down the sidebar. Are there any incompatibilities with other plug-ins that you are aware of that maybe I should check? Thanks!
=M=
Hi Marty,
I’m not sure if this is an incompatibility problem or a configuration issue. Take a look at your widget for the google custom search and check what the settings are for “Display results”. I have a feeling you have that set to “within widget”.
Cheers,
Edwin
I also can’t get a pop-up window to work on a new 3.1.2 installation…
I do have Pop-Up chosen in the widget.
Pop-up blocker is disabled on my machine.
Thanks for your great support !
Hey Jeff,
The cause is probably a conflict with other plugins. Could you try disabling all other plugins and see if you still have the problem? Then enable the plugins one at a time and testing the google custom search to identify which plugin is causing the issue.
Thanks,
Edwin
Edwin, great plugin!
For anyone having problems with the popup window top bar being obscured by the new WordPress menubar feature, you can add a height option for the popup window in google-custom-search/js/gsc.js. I changed it to 500 pixels as follows:
// Dialog
$(‘#dialog’).dialog({
autoOpen: false,
width: 600,
height: 500,
modal: true
});
Edwin, can I suggest you add this to the next version? Also, would love it if you could figure out how to get the adsense ads into the popup.
Thanks Bob, That’s a great tip. Will have to put that into the next version. Many thanks for that! Also with the ads, that’s something I still haven’t figured out yet. Will put that in when I have figured them out.
Edwin
Hi edwin..,
i have an idea to display both from the wordpress search result and google search result in my blog, what i mean is, when someone searching in my wordpress default search, it will also display the search result from google search result, so it will automatic display both search result. here what i mean :
if someone search in wordpress default search, then the term will be as : , in wordpress searchresult (search.php), i also want to display the visitor search query in google custom search, maybe in here =”display_search_box();” it will automatic add to display both result, how can i do that..? Need your advice, thanks.
i just need to add : the_search_query(); function to google custom search box, so it will display both query from wordpress and google custom search result.., how to do that..? thanks
I’d like to tell you “thank you”. This is a beautiful plugin and I was looking for something like this for a while.
Again… thank you!
Hi, Edwin
I love the plugin. But the theme doesn’t like it. The pop up window doesn’t work. I guess there is conflict with the theme I am using because it is fine with the default twentyten theme. This is the theme I use http://www.simplewpthemes.com/?s=numerto&x=30&y=12 (numerto magazine)
Could you give me some advice on how to get rid of the conflict? Or should I turn to the theme Author for help? Thanks in advance.
Hi Haisa,
What’s the address for your website? I like to take a look at it and see if I can identify what the conflict is.
Edwin
hei i need some help the plugin works fine but i deleted a post for like 2 days, and the plugin still only comes up with that post, it dosent bring up my newest post that i took all the conten from the old one and in the new post, when i also try to search on my new post with the topic or something in it, it only comes up with the old one i deleted, when i click on it i get the error that the page isnt there
Hi Yelunra,
The plugin uses Google search to get the results. What has happened is that Google hasn’t updated their search listings for your website yet.
I’m not sure how often Google crawls through your website to re-index their search listings. You can find out more information about that at http://www.google.com/webmasters/. You will also be able to dictate Google’s web crawl frequency on your website through the settings in http://www.google.com/webmasters/.
Hope this helps,
Edwin
sir hep me i am confused that small red black box with the red 1 at the bottom of my pop-up search results? what is that please make a reply thanks wus
Hi sandeep,
The red 1 at the bottom of your pop-up search results means that there is only 1 page worth of results that met the search criteria.
Hope that clears things up.
Edwin
Any chance of a bit of help? I seemed to have no control of resizing the width of the Search Box. I tried looking where to set it but no avail. Where and how can I do the resizing please? Thank you very much.
Hi Noel,
try modifying the gsc.css file for the plugin.
in input.gsc-input{} add the width option
eg:
input.gsc-input{
width: 50%
}
this will make the search box fill 50% of its available space.
I haven’t tried it, but I think that should do it.
Edwin
Very nice plugin. Your work is so much appreciated after I wasted so much time and frustration trying to figure out Google’s horrible instructions.
I would specifically like to link the plugin to my adsense account for revenue. Can you please tell me how to do this – or anyone else???
Thanks very much.
Hi Christine,
Thank you for your comments. The easiest way to link the plugin to your adsense account is to go to the google custom search options at http://www.google.com/cse/manage/all
At that site, there is a link to “Make Money” where you can link your adsense account to your google custom search engine.
Hope this helps,
Edwin
Hi Dude,
Great work! Keep it up.
I guess your plugin conflicts with shadowbox js, i’m able to open up a pop-up on my homepage but i’m not on a post page.
Would you please check it ?
Nope, it aint conflict with any of my plugins i guess.
But it still show them on homepage as a pop-up, on a post page under the search box.
Oh right,
I found where i do have the problem, on my post pages im loading a php file which pop-ups if the user is new and says to subscribe follow like bla. bla..
on that php file i’m loading the latest jquery pack which conflicts with yours.
This is how i load;
Do you have any workaround?
Great plugin, but Im having trouble getting the results to display where I want them. Id like the search results to display in a separate page. Ive tried adding the code in my search.php and it doesnt work. If I put the same code in the header file (where the search is located) it works fine. Suggestions?
Thanks!
Kristin
Create a Site Search via Google Adsense, not on as linked in the plugin. When you did create a new custom site search at google adsense page, you will receive two different code packs, one is to search and the other to display results. Use the result code as a page. And use the id for the plugin, the id must stard with “pub-” if you created the right custom search.
Hi.
In FAQ: Q. My current website search box is not in a widget. Can I replace wordpress search with this plugin?
Yes. You sure can.
You will need to modify the wordpress theme you are using and replace the wordpress search code with this plugin’s API.
Could you explain further regarding the plugins API. What do I put in the search code exactly? Is it in search.php I do this?
Thanks (PS. Loving the plugin)
is there a possibility that can we get only results with specific date. For example only results that sites updated within last month ?
Nice plugin, will try on my blog
I am wondering like david that in this plugin is there filtering option such as date ?
Hi Maria and David,
I’ve been looking to see if there is a way to add filtering options, but can’t seem to find any.
The search box and searching is handled by Google and I couldn’t find any API to set the filtering options.
Edwin
Hi
Thank you for the great plugin, would you mind checking out my site, there is no action when I click on the search button.
I tested the search engine on the google custom search configuration page and results are good.
Display results in same window in unchecked.
Am I missing a step?
Thank you
Hi Julien,
I think you might have disabled the plugin as I couldn’t find it on your website. If you like me to look at it, please re-enable the plugin and send me a message.
thanks,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
First of all, thank you very much for this nice plugin. I’d like to know if there’s a way to put the custom google search in French since my website is in french.
Also, is there a way to place the pop up a little bit down because I have a top menu and when I search with the option to pop up, the pop up is on top of the menu and I can’t close the pop up.
Thanks
Hi Helio Alves,
Thanks for liking the plugin. The custom google search would use the default language of your web browser. So if your web browser’s default language is set to french, it should show up as french.
Also I’ve just updated the plugin to version 1.3.3 The problem you hightlighted was observed by another user and he suggested a slight change to the code which should hopefully solve your problem.
Cheers,
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
Thank you very much for your reply. The problems I had are now fixed, I’d like to know how I could display the search results in a page instead of the popup. Right now I have a page search.php where I’ve placed this code:
But whenever I select “Custom” in the widget, when I click “Search” nothing happens, it’s like the button is disable.
Do you know what could be the problem? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Helio
Hi, I’m trying to get my client to decide which format of your lovely plugin to use! So at present all three are present (on the ‘Resources’ page)!!
I played with css to get the formatting better, including bringing the popup over the admin bar; in the ‘in-widget’ presentation, there is only one page of results (is this what a previous correspondent was querying?); however, I get nothing for the in-page variant (even if I take the others out so it’s present on its own … the correct page-file is a template, so it needs a conditional … … is that the problem?
Keep up the good work!
So, adding the correct tage, the conditional is
Thanks for any info!
Me again. Sorry about this!
Please delete the last post as it STILL doesn’t show the code!
(and edit this one …)
It seems the in-page version IS working, at least partly, but it seems to need a lot of correction to the styling even of what is shown. It also truncates the results in the same way as the in-widget presentation (the popup is the only one which gives the correct 10 pages +).
Hey,nice work on the plugin.
But i am unable to make it display on my theme page,and i want u to specified likely place i can place it on my theme since i can see from the screenshot i can make it display within my site………here is my site http://www.careershome.com.when i put the option on widget to custom the search button wont work and of-course it wont display anywhere …………..pls i need the respond ASAP.
thanks
i fell in love with your plugin immediately i saw it but
Please i have the following error on my page after using your plugin:
error:
Message: Object doesn’t support this property or method
Line: 6
Char: 2
Code: 0
URI: http://ewondertv.com/wp-content/plugins/google-custom-search/js/gsc.js?ver=3.2.1
Please how can i correct it
Hi Tayo,
Could you re-enable the plugin on your site please and also provide instructions on how I can re-create the problem you mentioned in.
Thanks,
Edwin
Hi,
I love the plugin! It is amazing and I love the look of the popup. The problem is I want the popup to match in styling with the rest of the popups on our site.
I coded the hell out of it, but kept running into issues as everything is really stuck to the search box id. Did you base this upon another lightbox or is there an easy way to integrate it for another popup on the page?
Thank you so much!
Tyler
hi,
i use your plugin, it work perfectly, but when the search box in the post url, it not working correct. as it suppose to popup the result but now it show within the widget.
eg.http://ipropertyhelp.com/2011/09/bandar-puteri-klang-r00246/
please help …
i found the solution, just change $ -> jQuery in all the gcs.js that solve the issue
Hello Edwin,
First of all massive thanks for this wonderful plugin! I finally got it to work with the custom display, but my only problem is dat not all words that are on my website can be found… I did the URL-pattern (/*) at the Google configuration site, but some words just can’t be found (and I have only 26 pages). Could you tell me what to do?
Thanks in advance!
- Jay
I think I found it. For everyone else with the same issue: you need to create a sitemap. A sitemap is an .xml file with urls that can be searched on. It can be made for example at http://www.sitemapsubmit.net/. Create it, upload it on your server and via the google webmaster help services you can upload it (or maybe it is automatically found on the google custom search page). Then it needs to be indexed. This will happen in 24 hours and then the results are visible, right?
This video also helped me out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqhU66RP8gQ&feature=relmfu
Thanks for the information. I have been tweaking my blog and looking for ways to make it better. I have heard that the WP search wasn’t all that, so I appreciate the review on a better option.
Max Attract
webmaster, Perfume with Pheromone
Great plugin! Works well; however, I noticed when I have this plugin activated, it adds two blank lines to the top of every page/post. Think it’s because of a trailing blank line after a php close, but haven’t had time to investigate.
Hi Jonas, that’s interesting. Let me know if that’s the problem and I’ll put a fix in for it.
thank you very much
Hey Edwin , I’m having a bit of a weird issue with the plugin. I’ve used the code integration, not the widget and selected the POP_UP option. Now the odd part, it works on every one of my pages apart from my post pages..
Firebug finds the following Error on these pages:
$(“#dialog”).dialog is not a function
[Break On This Error] modal: true
Any ideas in solving this would be greatly appreciated! Otherwise excellent plugin man, really hope to get it working!
Hey, fixed it! same issue as “vk”!
Changed all “$” with “jQuery” and BOOM it worked! Awesome! Hope this helps others out there!
Hi Maximilianos,
Thanks for the information on that. I’ll put the change in the next release.
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
thank you for the plugin.
I have a feature request… I want the results to be shown on an external page.
Therefor I need to be able to select the option that the results should load in an external page and a new field to enter the URL to that page.
I’m new to WordPress so I’m not sure how to write WP-extensions. I do know how to alter the code… that’s what I did.
search-box.php
added options.enableSearchboxOnly(“”);
customSearchControl.draw(‘cse-search-form’, options);
can you add this properly to your extension?
gr. Hans
Hi Hans,
Thanks for that. I’ll put the code in the next release of the plugin.
Edwin
options.enableSearchboxOnly(“”);
customSearchControl.draw(”, options);
it’s working now on http://www.byte.nl/blog
Would be great if you can put this in your plugin as a configurable item.
seems like some code where deleted… sorry about that.
options.enableSearchboxOnly(“<link-to-page-with-searcresults>”);
customSearchControl.draw(‘<block-containing-searchControl>’, options);
it’s working now on http://www.byte.nl/blog
Would be great if you can put this in your plugin as a configurable item.
hi, i keep getting a no results page back from the plugin
no white spaces in my ID
any idea?
when I implement at a template, the search box displayed is too long. how can I modify it with css? I tried “input.gsc-input { width: 50%” as suggested before, but it’s not working.thanks
I’m having same problem as wim said…..please help