While the default WordPress search engine is fine, it is not as powerful as Google can be. The NSO Theme now allows to replace the search form on your website with Google Custom search.
What is Google Custom Search
Google Custom Search allows you to configure the powerful Google search engine to only search a specific website, in this case, your NSO website.
Using google not only provides greater results to your visitors search queries, it also helps improving the way pages are indexed.
Tonga Stats Office website is already using the Custom Search Engine (CSE).
(click on the search icon on the top right corner of a page in Tonga NSO’s website to give it a try)
How to set this up on my website
Setting up CSE on Google
Login to your google account and head over to the Google Programmable Search Console:
https://cse.google.com/cse/all
If you don’t have a Google account (and don’t want one), SDD can set up CSE for you.
Simply contact us and we’ll create this under our account.
On the Edit Search Engine page, click on Add button to create a new custom engine.
Enter the URL to your website, and give the search engine a name. Click on Create button to save.
The next screen offers a few more options, such as enabling or disabling search on images and any kind of files.
Regarding look and feel, the NSO theme only supports the overlay option for now. Please leave as is (default option).
Back to the Setup > Basics tab, you will find the Search engine ID. Copy it for later use.
Setting up CSE on your website
From WordPress backend, go to Divi > NSO options page and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
Select “Use Google Custom Search” option and paste you Search engine ID.
Save and that’s it, done !
Improve search results
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a serious matter and quite a full time job if you want to be at the top.
Luckily, WordPress is known to be one of the best CMS to help search engines (not only Google) to find your content.
Still, we can (and we should) imrpove this a bit more by using a SEO plugin such as WP Meta SEO.
Read more on my next article (soon to come).
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