“Google Mini allows our visitors to search our collection of thousands of unique articles and find free legal information quickly and easily,” said Senior Online Marketing Manager, Evan Andrews. “The combination of Googles powerful engine and ubiquitous interface matched to our vast law library has become an instant hit among LegalMatch consumers. This initiative is just another way we demonstrate our commitment to making LegalMatch the most up-to-date, comprehensive and user-friendly source of legal information for consumers.”

What Consumers Can Do at LegalMatch.com

Find an Attorney

At www.LegalMatch.com consumers can seek pre-screened, qualified attorneys in their geographic area using the Google Mini as the backend search engine. LegalMatch offers Priority Service for consumers who want real-time assistance with presenting their case and backs the consumer’s choice of attorney with a $5000 Satisfaction Guarantee. LegalMatch is free of charge for consumers and small business owners.

Learn About the Law

LegalMatchÂ?s LegalCenter provides an online law library, legal forums and legal blogs to consumers who must educate themselves about the law and the legal process. The law library contains thousands of comprehensive articles explaining over 220 areas of law; the legal forum allows consumers to ask specific legal questions and exchange ideas; and the legal blog gives consumers an inside look at what legal industry experts are saying. From family and employment law to bankruptcy and personal injury cases, LegalMatch helps consumers understand the issues that affect them most.

E-commerce automotive retailer DriveWire leverages Google mini search appliance to help customers search across multiple auto parts and performance accessories catalogs.

Early on, e-commerce retailer DriveWire recognized that they had a problem with their search capabilities as they began adding more and more product catalogs to their web site. However, for the past year the company was carefully watching reports that were showing a decline in the ability of the consumer to find the correct part or accessory for their car. Even more disturbing, according to CEO Bryan Parks, was that it wasn’t a result of not having the part, but rather the ability to search across multiple catalogs.

“Five years ago when we started, we only had one auto parts catalog and we were able to use our vendors own search functionality,” said Parks. “But as DriveWire added multiple auto parts and performance catalogs to the web site, our customers had to completely start their search over from scratch with every catalog. It does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that this was causing us to lose customers and sales.”

Asked for an example, Parks provided an actual scenario that caused the problem: “Honda Civic Cold Air Intake”

“We actually have the Honda Civic Cold Air Intake in the performance catalog,” says Parks, “However most consumers search only our replacement parts catalog with no result, so we end up with the consumer leaving the site without realizing we have the part they are looking for.”

Frustrated with the realization that DriveWire was loosing thousands of prospective customers, Parks quickly set out to find a solution to their problem.

“Though I had resolved myself to purchase a commercial solution,” added Parks, “my budget simply wouldn’t support the heavy price tags of many of the solutions on the market. The Google Mini was a perfect fit – both in functionality and price.”

While robust search functionality and highly relevant results were obvious benefits, Parks says the real differentiator for him was the ability to meld the Google-powered search into his own site allowing consumers to search across multiple parts catalogs.

“We always strive to be able to provide the best auto parts and performance accessories at the best prices,” added Parks, “and we couldn’t be happier about how Google Mini has allowed us to satisfy the ability of our customers to be able to find exactly what the need with a simple search interface.”

About DriveWire.com

Launched in 1999, DriveWire is one of the leading online retailers of auto parts and accessories. Aside from offering the lowest prices on replacement parts and performance accessories, they provide one of the largest online catalogs of Honda Parts, Acura Parts, Toyota Parts, Porsche Parts, Chevy Parts, BMW Parts and Mercedes Parts. DriveWire is a Warehouse Distributor for Eibach Springs, Intrax Suspension, AEM Power, DC Sports Exhaust, B&G Suspension, and Injen Cold Air Intake. Recently DriveWire has added to its offerings the ability for consumers to get New Car Quotes, Dealer Invoicing, and Rebate Information on new cars and trucks.

E-commerce toy retailer leverages Google mini search appliance to satisfy new breed of search-savvy customers.

Though e-commerce toy retailer Fat Brain Toys recognized that they had a problem with their homegrown site search functionality, they were reluctant to purchase a commercial solution for fear of big price tags and complicated integration. But for over two years the company monitored reports that showed a steady decline in product search matches. Even more disturbing, according to President and Co-Founder Mark Carson, was that it wasn’t a result of not having the product, but rather fundamental changes in the searches themselves.

“Three years ago, the majority of our customers entered a single word into our product search engine and it functioned adequately,” says Carson. “But with the pervasiveness of search, our customers became increasingly savvier with their own querying capabilities which actually wreaked havoc on our product search functionality.”

Asked for an example of a complex search, Carson provided an actual scenario that caused his product search engine to fail miserably: “magnetic geo mags +sale.”

“While we do in fact have a product called Geomag that’s on sale,” explained Carson, “our product search simply wasn’t sophisticated enough to be able to account for complex phrases, misspellings, and advanced search operators.”

Frustrated with the thought of hundreds of prospective customers leaving his site empty-handed, Carson set out to find a commercial solution to solve his growing problem. After making a short-list of potential candidates, Carson discovered a new version of the Google Search Appliance, modestly named the “Google Mini.”

“Though I had resolved myself to purchase a commercial solution,” added Carson, “my budget simply wouldn’t support the price tags of many of the solutions on the market. The Google Mini was a perfect fit – both in functionality and price.”

While robust search functionality and highly relevant results were obvious benefits, Carson says the real differentiator for him was the ability to meld the Google-powered search into his own site. Using the advanced capabilities of the available XML interface, Fat Brain Toys was able to not only match their site look and feel, but also provide product thumbnails for related search results, order lookup, shipment tracking, and more.

While Carson estimates that the Google Mini has already paid for itself, he’s even more optimistic about its prospects as the company enters its hectic holiday season.

“We always strive to be customer-focused,” added Carson, “and we couldn’t be happier about how Google Mini has allowed us to satisfy this new breed of search-savvy customers.”

About Fat Brain Toys

Fat Brain Toys was founded in 2002 by husband and wife team Mark & Karen Carson to sell toys that entertain and educate. Hence the Fat Brain Toys tagline, Smarter Toys = Smarter Kids. Begun as a literal garage startup in Elkhorn, Nebraska, the Carsons have grown their company into one of the largest independent, online retailers of specialty toys in the country by offering great toys at fair prices, coupled with truly remarkable customer service. Please visit http://www.fatbraintoys.com to see the entire range of toys offered by the company.

Cadopolis, the top reseller for AutoCAD Add-ons, has recently launched the Google “Mini” Search Appliance to index the thousands of software documents and related AutoCAD news within their site. The Google Mini provides users with rapid and highly accurate searches and results, which are always served in a familiar and easy to format.

A lot of people use Google to search the web and we believe our customers want the same quality search results when visiting Cadopolis. We are extremely excited to provide reliable searches to our customers. Our visitors can continue to find what they need using the same familiar Google look and feel within our site

Cadopolis, the top reseller for AutoCAD Add-ons, has recently launched the Google “Mini” Search Appliance to index the thousands of software documents and related AutoCAD news within their site.

“A lot of people use Google to search the web and we believe our customers want the same quality search results when visiting Cadopolis. We are extremely excited to provide reliable searches to our customers. Our visitors can continue to find what they need using the same familiar Google look and feel within our site,” said Michael Robinson, President of Cadopolis.com

The Google Mini provides users with rapid and highly accurate searches and results, which are always served in a familiar and easy to format.

The Google Search Appliance provides all the features users have come accustom to using. The Search Appliance provides spell checking, the ability to view PDF and Word documents in HTML and users can even accesses cached versions of documents that may be temporarily offline.

About Cadopolis.com

Cadopolis.com is the largest independent online provider for AutoCAD related products and services. Featuring 100′s of software titles, shareware titles and 1000′s of AutoCAD related links. Cadopolis.com is committed to providing the greatest selection of products and services available anywhere online.

from prweb.com

Ski Travel Newcomer to Remedy Travel Industry ‘Geotargeting’ Blunders

The technologies out there are great for providing a fairly good idea of where a hotel lies, but they are far from consistent

Bethesda, MD (Vocus) November 11, 2010

When it comes to ski travel, SnowTrax (http://www.SnowTrax.com) knows what’s at the heart of high value lodging: location, location, location. That is why the newly launched ski travel engine has vowed to go a step above the industry norm of relying on Google Maps’ geographical data by actually verifying the accuracy of its maps and hotels’ location data to precise longitudes/latitudes. For SnowTrax, the ultimate aim is 100% precise lodging location information to help travelers select the best ski package available.

SnowTrax President Joe Bous says that while the Google Maps API has been leveraged by travel sites for many clever purposes, when it comes to the precision of hotel location, it’s not totally reliable.

“The technologies out there are great for providing a fairly good idea of where a hotel lies, but they are far from consistent,” says Bous. “Ski and snow travelers pay for their location; knowing whether their lodge is on the slopes or two blocks across the highway – this makes a huge difference in terms of value.”

SnowTrax launched this ambitious undertaking after finding reoccurring inaccuracies throughout the incoming hotel data. Since many websites and companies rely on Google Map API, these inaccuracies are often widespread across the web. For SnowTrax, a site that allows users to compare ski packages at more than 5 ski resorts simultaneously on factors such as hotel star rating and location, this unreliable location data was unacceptable.

“SnowTrax was built for comparison shoppers, the traveler who wants a clear view of their options so they can decide if it is worth it to spend $100 more for ski-in/ski-out lodging,” says Bous. “This functionality would be useless if we relied on the patchy geographic data widespread on the web today.”

Studies show that many online travel planners interact frequently with hotel maps, relying on this data as a primary geographical reference. With sporadic hotel location inaccuracies of 10 miles of greater, many travelers may be in for an unwelcome surprise upon arrival.

The causes of these inaccuracies, according to SnowTrax’s findings, are multifaceted. With no central organization verifying the addresses of hotels, many hotels – especially smaller, boutique properties – only list partial address data, such as city & state. When travel distributors map this data using Google API, this hotel will be “geotagged” in the exact center of the city, possibly miles from the correct location.

What’s more, any hotels located on small or unofficial streets, as is common in vacation rentals, chateaus, and ski resort village properties, are not properly registered within the Google API, and frequently wind up misplaced.

“When all is said and done, you may have a five star, luxury property located slopeside on a private road inaccurately logged at the center of the city of Aspen,” says Bous. “This is a disservice to both travelers, who are seeing incorrect information, and our travel suppliers.”

About SnowTrax:

SnowTrax is an innovative online ski travel search and booking engine that points travelers to the best travel dates and destinations this ski season. SnowTrax partners with ski resorts, hotels, and airfare providers across North America to offer travelers competitive ski packages. SnowTrax empowers travelers by giving them detailed mountain and ski area information, real-time pricing, and intuitive tools that help users compare packages across 5+ resorts simultaneously. SnowTrax is based out of Bethesda, MD.

SnowTrax has pioneered the application of advanced search technology in the online ski sphere. Key features include:

• Multi-Destination Searches: compare packages at 5+ ski resorts simultaneously
• Vacation Optimization: view cheapest flight vs. flight that gives you the most on-mountain time
• Precise Location of Lodging: Organize hotel results by the exact distance from lifts and shuttle stops
• Insider Insight: find your ski resort match using our extensive filter system, based on up-to-date statistics and expert opinion
• Real-time pricing: SnowTrax displays to-the-minute rates; no price quotes required

To become an affiliate or partner with SnowTrax, please see http://www.SnowTrax.com for more information.

Related articles

• Floor-Plans with Google Maps (googlemapsmania.blogspot.com)
• Shades of red, shades of blue: mapping midterm election ratings (googleblog.blogspot.com)
• Styled Static Maps Launches (googlemapsmania.blogspot.com)
• Your new map of Australia (google-au.blogspot.com)
• Film Locations on Google Maps (googlemapsmania.blogspot.com)
• Online publishers: growing the display advertising pie (googleblog.blogspot.com)
• Live Auctions with Google Maps (googlemapsmania.blogspot.com)

From PRWEB.com.

Cloud Connect for the Google Search Appliance
Cloud Connect displays relevant, personalized results from Google Docs and Google Sites alongside results from more traditional repositories, like file shares and content management systems. Easier access to collaborative documents, spreadsheets, presentations and sites with Cloud Connect speeds up how quickly coworkers can complete projects. Cloud Connect also lets users search content from Twitter, as well as blogs and industry websites via Google Site Search.

For organizations such as Delta Hotels and Avago that have already deployed both Google Apps and the Google Search Appliance, the Cloud Connect feature brings universal search to a new level, with more accessible business systems and content now spanning from cloud to ground.

People Search
This new version also helps foster faster collaboration between employees with the addition of People Search, which makes it easy to find experts and contact coworkers who are related to a search query, right from the search results page. For example, a search for field marketing would return a list of field marketing team members alongside other relevant content. Organizations can index personnel information like department, interests, expertise and location, and there is an LDAP connector to help get People Search up and running quickly.Dynamic Navigation and more
Our new Dynamic Navigation feature allows users to drill down into search results based on search modifiers for their queries, and Active-Active Mirroring improves reliability by spreading search traffic across multiple boxes. Dynamic Navigation was a top user request and we are glad to be able to add it. In addition, the Search Appliance now supports Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 content without the need for additional connectors.

As you move your business to the cloud, the Google Search Appliancea’s new features can be an important bridge between on-premise and cloud-based systems, while enhancing employee collaboration. You can learn more about this latest release at www.google.com/gsa.

Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Enterprise Search

Related articles

• Google Search Appliance heads for the cloud (v3.co.uk)
• Google Search Appliance Looks Skyward (tjantunen.com)
• Google Search Appliance Now Works With The Cloud (techcrunch.com)
• Google Search Appliance Connects To Cloud (webpronews.com)
• New Google Search Appliance Goes “From Cloud To Ground” (searchengineland.com)
• Google Search Appliance now indexes Apps suite (macworld.com)
• Google Search Appliance Now Indexes Apps Suite (nytimes.com)
• Google Search Appliance 6.0 Features (mwd.com)
• Google ties search appliance to the clouds (go.theregister.com)

The search appliance ranks the documents that it finds in response to a user search query by calculating a score for each document. The score reflects the probable relevance of the document content and determines the order in which results appear on the search results page.

Result biasing lets you influence the order of documents on the search results page by applying adjustments to the scoring calculation. Using this feature, you can apply local settings that increase or decrease the score of specified sources.

The effect of changing a document’s score is not always predictable. The actual order of a search result among the other results is determined by many factors, including the scores of the other documents with which it is returned.

Result biasing is disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled, either before or after configuration. You enable result biasing for each front end in which you want to use it.

By default, even when result biasing is enabled, it has no effect, because the influence settings for both source biasing and date biasing are set to “No influence.”

Result biasing is not always the best way to affect the order of results. The following objectives might be better served by other features:

• To ensure that a particular document appears at the top of the results, consider using a key match.
• To identify a very large set of related documents, consider using a collection.

To enable result biasing:

1. Go to Serving > Front Ends and click Edit for a particular front end.
2. On the Filters tab, find the Result Biasing setting.
3. Select Enable to enable the feature.

Source Biasing

Source biasing lets you influence the order of documents based on URL pattern matching. A company might use source biasing to increase the score of documents on departmental file shares and decrease the score of documents in user directories. An educational institution might use source biasing to increase the score of class descriptions and decrease the score of specific class notes.

To use source biasing, you first change the influence setting from “no influence” to a stronger setting. The influence setting is an opportunity to experiment, rather than a precise measurement. If a low setting does not produce the desired results, try raising the setting.

To specify your preferred adjustments, you compile a URL pattern list, as you do when you set up the search appliance crawl patterns. When the search appliance ranks search results, it compares the URL for each result with each pattern in the list. For information on how to specify a URL, refer to the reference on how to write a URL pattern. You can specify any number of patterns.

The search appliance traverses the list in the order in which you specify the patterns, top to bottom. When a URL in the search results matches a URL pattern, the search appliance applies the strength adjustment specified for that pattern and then moves on to the next URL. The search appliance makes only one adjustment per URL, using the strength adjustment for the first matching pattern.

In some situations, you might want to exempt specific URLs or patterns that would otherwise match a broader pattern. For example, you might want to adjust the score of the files in a particular directory, except for one file, file type, or subdirectory. For instructions, refer to the section that follows abouthow to create exceptions from broad patterns.

To configure source biasing:

1. Specify how much you want your adjustment to influence the scoring calculation.
2. For each URL you want to affect, enter a pattern that the URL matches and specify the strength of the adjustment.
3. Click Save Settings.
4. Wait for a few minutes while the settings take effect and then issue a few test queries.

To delete a URL pattern:

1. Remove the pattern text from the URL Pattern text box.
2. Click Save Changes.

To create exceptions from broad patterns:

1. Create patterns that match the exceptions and set their adjustment strength to “Leave unchanged.”
2. Below the exception patterns, create the broader pattern that matches the URLs you want to adjust and set its adjustment strength.

When the search appliance compares a URL to the URL patterns, a URL that matches the exception pattern is set to “Leave unchanged.” Once the URL has been matched by the exception pattern, it will not be compared to the broader pattern.

Date Biasing

Using date biasing, you can cause the search appliance to weigh document dates more heavily when it scores results, and to prefer documents with newer dates to documents with older dates. The date biasing feature does not provide results that are ordered strictly by date, because other factors are considered in a document’s score. To order results strictly by date, any user can click the Sort by date link.

The document date that the search appliance evaluates for date biasing is specified on the Crawl and Index > Document Dates page. For example, the search appliance can use the last modified date, a date in the URL, or a date in the document title. For more information, refer to the help page for theCrawl and Index > Document Dates feature. However, note that if a document is added to the index by means of a feed rather than by means of a crawl, the document might not have a useful associated date for use with date biasing.

Date biasing is applied to search results in a flexible manner and you’ll need to experiment with the settings to see how it affects the documents in your index. You’ll typically notice that date biasing affects the order of recent documents with small differences in date more than it affects older documents with small differences in date.

To configure date biasing:

1. Specify how much you want your adjustment to influence the scoring calculation. Until you increase the setting from the default “No influence” to a higher setting, date biasing is effectively disabled.
2. Click Save Settings.

Related articles

• The new Google Search Appliance – a bridge to the cloud (googleblog.blogspot.com)
• Google Search Appliance now indexes Apps suite (infoworld.com)
• Google Search Appliance Now Indexes Apps Suite (pcworld.com)
• Google Search Appliance heads for the cloud (v3.co.uk)
• Google Search Appliance now indexes Apps suite (macworld.com)
• Google Search Appliance Now Indexes Apps Suite (nytimes.com)

This page lets you define OneBox modules used by this appliance, manage modules, and define new modules.

About OneBox Modules

A OneBox module provides real-time access to data from a different collection on the same appliance or from an external source, such as an application or database.

On Google.com, OneBox modules are used to display specially formatted information about movies, weather, stock quotes, tracking numbers, airport information, flight status, and so on. In your organization, a OneBox module could display information from internal files or databases, or from applications. For example, a OneBox module could display contact information, employee telephone numbers, organizational charts, sales figures, part numbers, educational offerings, or employee policies.

OneBox results appear above other results on a user’s results page, formatted according to an XSLT stylesheet template. If there are no results from a OneBox module, the results page looks the way it would look if the OneBox module did not exist.

Before you can use a OneBox module with an external data source, a developer must create a OneBox provider, a program that receives queries from the appliance, obtains data from the application, and returns results to the appliance. For information about how to create a OneBox provider, refer to the OneBox Developer’s guide on code.google.com.

OneBox Search Settings

OneBox search settings define the way that this appliance uses OneBox modules.

• Maximum number of OneBox modules per query limits the number of OneBox result sets whose results are displayed to the user. It does not limit the number of OneBox modules that are triggered by a user’s search.

  As an example, suppose you set this value to two, but a user’s search query triggers five OneBox modules. Results return from four of those. Each front end configuration has a prioritized list of OneBox modules, so the appliance would display the two result sets with the highest priority.

• OneBox response timeout specifies how long the appliance should wait for a response from the OneBox provider. If the OneBox provider does not respond in the specified time, the appliance assumes that there are no results for the provider. Timeouts can occur when a provider is unresponsive or when the network is slow or unavailable. The range for this value is 1-3000 msec.

Current OneBox Modules

This table contains a list of the currently defined OneBox modules. If there are no entries in the table, you must first define a OneBox module.

For a module that appears in the table, you can take the following actions:

• View the log for the OneBox module. Use the log to monitor and troubleshoot the operations of this OneBox module by analyzing events such as these:
  • Queries that triggered the OneBox module
  • Calls to the OneBox provider
  • Provider timeouts
  • Results and errors returned by the provider
  • Selection or rejection of the provider’s results, when the appliance chooses which result sets to display, based on front end priorities
• Export the OneBox module configuration to a file. You could use this file to share the OneBox module with others, or to edit it for use with another OneBox module.
• Edit the OneBox module definition.
• Delete the OneBox module definition.

Define OneBox Module/Import a Configuration File

This process defines a OneBox module on your search appliance. You can manually enter the configuration values or upload a configuration file.

To manually create a OneBox module definition:

1. Under the Define OneBox Module header, fill in the OneBox Name box. Specify a name that helps you organize the modules on your appliance. The name is for your own use and will not be shown to users.
2. Click Create Module Definition.

To upload a configuration file:

1. Under the Import a Configuration File header, browse to the file.
2. Click Import.

Information about how to create a configuration file is available in the OneBox Developer’s Guide on code.google.com.

Configuring Use of the OneBox Module

The Front Ends > OneBox Modules page lets you define a OneBox module, but the module won’t be used until it is assigned to a front end. Each front end has a list of assigned OneBox modules, based on what’s most appropriate for the users of that front end.

To view or configure the OneBox module assignments for a specific front end, go to Serving > Front Ends. In the list of front ends, click the “edit” link, and then click the OneBox tab.

You can specify one or more OneBox modules for each front end. The appliance evaluates each search query for this front end and invokes a OneBox module only if its trigger matches the search query.

When a Search Query Invokes Multiple OneBox Modules

An appliance might invoke multiple OneBox modules in response to a search query, but all modules might not return results. A OneBox module might encounter an error, fail to generate results, or respond too slowly and time out. Of the timely result sets that return from a query, the appliance always displays a specific number, based on the setting specified on the Serving > Front Ends > OneBox Modules page.

In addition to selecting OneBox modules for this front end, you specify their priorities with respect to each other. When there are multiple result sets, but only a limited number can be displayed, the appliance chooses result sets based on your priorities. The appliance displays result sets from OneBox modules that are higher in the Selected Modules list before it displays result sets from modules that are lower in the Selected Modules list.

Select OneBox Modules

The Available Modules list includes all previously defined OneBox modules. The Selected Modules list specifies the OneBox modules that search queries in this front end can invoke.

To add a OneBox module for use in this front end:

1. Select a OneBox module from the Available Modules list.
2. Click the right arrow to move the module to the Selected Modules list.
3. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to specify the priority for each module.
4. Click Save Settings when you are done. Expect some delay while the settings take effect.

Onebox Topics

Related articles

• The new Google Search Appliance – a bridge to the cloud (googleblog.blogspot.com)

As results are being served, you may find some results that you do not want to be served to your end users. To prevent particular URLs from being served in results, you can enter URLs or URL patterns on the Remove URLs panel. Even though the URLs exist in the Test Center, they will not be served.

You can add URL patterns to this panel at any time, and they will be removed from the served results. You can also delete the URL patterns in this window at any time to return those patterns to the served results. Because URLs are removed “live” when users are searching, there may be some fluctuation in search result counts as URLs are filtered out one result page at a time.

To prevent crawling of pages that you add to the Remove URLs list, you can add the same URLs to the Do Not Crawl URLs with the Following Patterns in the Crawl and Index > Crawl URLs page.

The URL patterns you provide must conform to the rules for valid URL patterns.

To enter a URL or URL pattern:

1. Click Serving and then Front Ends.
2. Click the Edit link next to the front end you want to edit.
3. Click the Remove URLs tab.
4. Type a valid URL pattern into the text box.
5. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to add additional URLs or patterns.
   Empty lines and comments starting with # are permitted.
6. Click the Update List of Removed URLs button.

Removing URLs from Google Mini Search Results