Google has launched Custom Search for smartphones. This means that if you own a site and add a Google Custom Search box to it, it will format search results to fit the screens of supported mobile devices.
The following devices are supported:
– Android-powered phones
– iPhone
– iPod Touch
– Palm Pre
When users search on a site with Google’s Custom Search box, they are redirected to a Google-hosted Custom Search results page created specifically for the siteowner’s custom engine. If webmasters would rather serve the results from their own site, however, Google does give that option. They can host their own version of the mobile Custom Search home page.
“You can test this out on your phone right now. Here are a few samples: search for user-generated content (e.g., search for “zakumi”) from sites like Wikipedia or Knol, or look for more information on Custom Search (e.g., search for “promotion”),” says Google Search Group Product Manager Rajat Mukherjee. “As you can see, Custom Mobile Search results can match the look and feel of your own website, and we’ve enabled interactive features, such as label tabs for navigation, as well as promotions.”
More information about setting up custom search for mobile can be found here in this post from the Custom Search blog.
The addition of custom search for smartphones should make a lot of people happy. The company says one of its most requested features in a Product Ideas survey was about enabling a mobile version of custom search. Google says that more features will be coming soon.
