Today Google announced that they will be offering small businesses the ability to have their own search engine to search their own site for $100. That’s a significant decrease in price over the previously required Google Mini cost of $1995.00. So, what’s the difference? According to Google, not much except the size of the index. We’ll see if this turns out to be true, as those who have used the Google Mini have absolutely loved it, even though it costs almost 2 grand.

There are some limitations as to how many pages the service will index:

The price for Google’s “Custom Search Business Edition” will start at $100 annually to sift through up to 5,000 Web pages. Larger Web sites can pay Google $500 annually to search up to 50,000 Web pages.

I know that my websites (including this blog) have yet to cross the 5k page mark. I suppose that when I do cross that threshhold that I won’t even balk for a minute over having to pay less than $50.00 per month for a quality search feature.

How does search effect your bottom line? Providing easy access to your content is one of the proven methods of increase website stickiness. Having a good search tool is fundamental in assisting your visitors in finding the content that they are looking for. Think of how many times you have been on a website and had to use the search tool to find what you were looking for because the navigation was just not doing it for you… And you are an expert. Imagine how hard it is for normal, non-supergeeks, to find information in those cases.

Having a great search tool can mean the difference between keeping a visitor on your site, and losing them forever.

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