Google makes revenue-sharing web search widely available

Last night Google announced the launch of their new syndicated WebSearch program.

Publishers can now host a Google search function on their websites and get a share of the revenue generated from their user’s searches.

Syndicated search from Google is not new. Publishers have been able to put a Google box on their web pages for a long time. But now they will get paid instead of giving away traffic for free. Google let webmasters add their logos, customize color schemes and filter out unwanted ads.

With the launch of this syndicated revenue-sharing search program Google is likely to become even more important for content sites.

Many publishers already receive the bulk of their income from their cut of the ad revenue Google generates through their Ad Sense program.

With revenue-sharing Google search only previously made available to large properties like AOL and through Google’s Gold Search program for a fee this will make almost any webmaster the owner of a co-branded revenue sharing Google-empowered search engine.

Bottom line: Fantastic idea. It will be huge.

-Ola Edvardsson