Local search engines

[Al]

I manage a website that uses Google search engine for local inquiries on the site. My client is asking if we could do away with Google and design a search engine of our own to do the job. This engine would only need to search on our site locally. Is this possible or is it much easier/cheaper to stay with Google? Thanks - Al

[falkencreative]

It is possible, though I imagine it will take a bit of work.

 

http://www.hotscripts.com/category/php/scripts-programs/search-engines/

http://www.sphider.eu/

http://www.kscripts.com/

http://www.phpdig.net/

 

Alternatively, a lot of content management systems come with a built in search engine, though if you aren't using a CMS or aren't using one that provides that feature it may not be much help.

[Al]

Thanks Benjamin. I checked out these links you sent and was wondering if you have ever tried to implement a search engine yourself, and if so, how difficult was it. Also, I see that many of them are FREE. Are they really FREE? Is there some hidden cost? Thanks - Al

[falkencreative]

I haven't personally had to deal with that -- I've always used Wordpress or something similar that has search functionality built in. I'm not sure how difficult it is to integrate -- you'd need to select a script to go with and try to figure out the time involved based on the documentation.

 

I do believe that most of those are free with no catches -- it's just a matter of the time and effort you have to put in to integrate into your site.

[krillz]

Well google has a very very good search API, the math is amazing behind it, all is linear algebra in awesome algoritms.

 

But if your client wants a local site wise search engine, well I would suggest going with the ones already on the market, as coding one yourself that performs well on matching search queries is a damn pain in the ass.

 

check out open source projects, they are completely free of charge with some exceptions when it comes to reselling for some, however read the open source licnsenses that come with the code to stay away from trouble.

 

places you can check for projects:

code.google.com

sourceforge.net

 

I bet the are already a bunch of solutions to your problem, the only thing left is finding them and implementing them on the site.

[PicnicTutorials]

the kscripts one looks pretty promising. I used http://www.freefind.com/ when I did mine. Click link in my signature for example. I used the free version which has some ads on it. Although for 5 bucks a month it's ad free. That said, I would have used the google one but that has a page width minimum that exeeded my layout width.

[Al]

Thanks everyone for your valuable information. I'll do the research and present it to my client. You guys ROCK!!!