Why Google?

In 2004, Networked Information Services upgraded the search engine for the BU Web from Ultraseek to the Google Search Appliance. The Google Search Appliance is used by many organizations and institutions, including Xerox, Proctor & Gamble, PBS, US Army, Cisco Systems, Boeing, Princeton, Stanford, and University of Florida. We chose to use Google for the following reasons:

• It provides better search results.
• It does a better job indexing pages that are database-driven.
• It provides a more-familiar user interface and brand.
• It indexes a range of file types, including pdf, asp, jsp, hdml, shtml, xml, cfm, doc, xls, ppt, rtf, wks, lwp, wri, and swf files.

Site Search

With Google available for BU Web sites, users can search a site, the BU Web, or the World Wide Web:

While this tutorial is focused mainly on improving your site's ranking in broad search results, the improvements recommended by this class will improve searching within a site as well.