Putch Search: The End of Spam?

"End of Spam? Putch, no! I like Spam, like Spam Musubi!"

Guys, Putch isn't talking about that kind of spam, they're talking about Search Engine Spam, the spam most of us White Hats SEO's hate. They're recruiting right now and this is a great place to exact vengence on meta stuffers and link abusers.

Join the fine fight.

Google Custom Search - Who's Using the Bouncer?

Google Custom Search has really taken off in the past month. It seems AJAX inspired Custom Search Engines are the wave of the future. Everybody and their mother is working hard at creating better search results on topics that interest them by including sites and even specific pages on a site related to their content.

However, in our frenzy to add the best sites to our Google CSE's I think many of us have forgotten about something probably just as powerful as the ability to add, the ability to "bounce" or exclude sites and pages from your index. Yes, I'm calling it "bouncing". Besides the ability to reward sites for great content, useful tools, and accurate information, Google has provided Vertical Search Engine creators with the tools to punish spammers, poorly written articles, and settle the occasional score. Just think of yourself as the owner of The Roxbury and the Exclude feature on Google CoOp as your 500 lb. bodyguard. Remember, the Roxbury isn't an elite club because it welcomes A-listers, it's elite because it Bounces everybody else.

I'll use an improvement I've just made to my Hero's Custom Search Engine as an example:

When people would run a query for the term "Sylar" the last result would be a Web Development / Design site. Normally I wouldn't "bounce" sites like this from my index, but remember this is a search engine for people looking for information on "Heroes" the television show. So until Sylar.com turns into a Heroes fansite I'm going to have to "bounce" it to make room for more relevant search results.
Now a search for "sylar" only yields search results relevant to "Heroes" the television show.

Observation
I have more than 10 Heroes fansites being given priority in my Heroes Custom Search Engine and Sylar.com still appeared in the top 10 results for a very popular and important keyword. Bouncing irrelevant sites rather than including relevant sites allowed me to provide the best search results possible. Remember that, it could come in handy one day.

Book Search Engine

One ambitious user wants has set up a search engine just for books. A lot of my results are turning up results for Amazon so far. Hopefully it will get better as he goes along.

Nintendo Custom Search Engine

Subject: Video Games
Description: This is my first attempt at a Google Coop search engine and I wanted to do something I felt passionate about.
Test the Video Game Search Engine

Heroes Search Engine

Test Drive the Heroes Search Engine

Subject: Heroes TV Show
Description: I created this one because my results for "sylar" kept returning irrelevant results. I'm definitely taking submissions on this one. I want to compile a comprehensive search resource for this show.

Google Coop Search Engine: Golf

Try out the Golf Search Engine

Subject: Golf
Description: This Google Coop Search Engine project is supposed to help people interested in finding information on Golf.

Note: A search on Google for "history of golf" returns a result for CafePress and links to a page for a golf shirt. It seems the Golf search engine seems to be generating better search results.

Google Coop Golf SE Results for "history of golf".

Normal Google SE results for "history of golf".

Hello Everybody!

Hey Guys,

I'm trying to put together a database of sorts that lists the URLs of all Google Coop or Custom Search Engines. If you want to be listed send me an url and description of your Search Engine.

Thanks,
Johnny