It is a once in a million chance - on Labs.google.com to get the "last" tool,
then refreshing the page - because it was about 3/4 loaded and loading too SLOW, and wanting to hurry it up - then saw the lastest addition added at that very same second it was added ;) :rolleyes: :eek:
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http://www.google.com/services/siteflavored.html

Site-Flavored Google Search
Want to offer your visitors search results that are tailored based on your site? With a few easy steps, you can customize search results based on the content of your website. Simply fill out a profile based on your site's content, generate the search box HTML, and then paste this HTML into your pages. Users who search from this search box will have the option to "flavor" their results based on the profile you've created.

Start here to customize Google for your site

FAQ


1. What is Site-Flavored Google Search?

Site-Flavored Google Search uses a Google search box to deliver custom web search results, based on a profile filled out by a site's webmaster. The profile reflects the content of the website, and when the site-flavored search box is placed within the pages of that site, users are able to view search results that are "flavored" to be more relevant to them. To put a Site-Flavored Google Search box on your site, click the "Start here..." link above.

2. That's pretty awesome. How does Google create customized search results?

Google has developed algorithms to determine which results are most likely to be relevant to a user, based on a profile that user fills out about his or her interests. Using a profile created by a site's webmaster on behalf of the site's visitors, Google attempts to customize searches entered into a site-flavored search box; pushing the most relevant results to the top of the page.

3. Google works great as is. As a webmaster, why should I try Site-Flavored Google Search?

No two websites are alike, and Google's goal is to make search results as relevant as possible. While standard Google results can be close most of the time, we believe that customization can make them even better. We want to save users from ever having to reformulate search terms to be more precise.

4. What do the colored balls next to the Site-Flavored search results mean?

The balls indicate which results Google thought were more relevant to your search, based on the profile that the webmaster filled out for his or her site. You can turn off this customization by clicking the "Off" link under the search box.

5. How can I find out what profile the webmaster filled out for his or her site?

Click the "Customized" link under the search box to see the categories the webmaster included in a particular site's profile.

6. The customized results aren't as useful as the default ones. Why is that?

In most cases, changing the customization setting to adjust the ordering of results has a positive affect on relevancy, because the changes are based on the content of the site from which you did your search. Sometimes it doesn't work that way. We're still ironing out the kinks in this beta test product and encourage you to give us feedback.

7. What's required to use Site-Flavored Google Search?

Your browser must be Internet Explorer 5 (or newer), Netscape 5 (or newer), or Mozilla 1.4 (or newer). It's best to restrict your search to English only for now, and to make sure your browser and computer languages are also set for English. And you'll need to have Javascript enabled.

For more information on other free enhancements to your website, check our Google Free FAQ. If you have comments, please feel free to send us feedback.

that is the same technology they are using for their personalized search.

I don't know if anyone else is still buying into the "Topic-Sensitive PageRank" idea (http://www.seoresearchlabs.com/googlereport.php). To me, this is just one more confirmation of the direction Google's going, and that they're serious about developing a working topical algorithm.

Whether you believe in TSPR or not, check out the setup page (http://labs.google.com/personalized/customize.html) for the list of topics that Google can use to bias search results. The largest group of topics is under the Business & Industries category.

They're still trying to find applications for this technology, more importantly they're getting folks to use it and provide feedback. That's a much better plan than just launching it to the whole world by surprise one day.

Whether you believe in TSPR or not, check out the setup page (http://labs.google.com/personalized/customize.html) for the list of topics that Google can use to bias search results. The largest group of topics is under the Business & Industries category.


Is it my imagination, or are a lot of the "flavorized" results directories or portals. I was just playing around with a few terms, and that was all I could get. Maybe it was just the category I was using (General Health). I knew what they were without clicking on the links, because I have backlinks from these sites. I did see a few that I did not know about though....hmmm....time to send out some more email. :rolleyes:

It's not your imagination at all. And this is the Kaltix technology in use. Spot their name in the source code?
From The Search Box Source Code
img src="http://labs.google.com/images/gp/google_kaltix_site_flavored_searchbox.gif"

For fun, make a site-flavored search box using "Society/Education" and then search for "laptop rental" - the first page of results are all boosted in rank by the topical bias. The SERP looks a whole lot like the post-Florida version that Greg Boser and others were pointing out at the SES conference last December.

Did Google's algo mistakenly associate "laptop rental" with that topic in November? Is this puzzling evidence of a world previously hidden to us? :D Only time will tell.

I just want to know how do you get the little google-balls next to your results. Sometimes there are three results with google-balls, sometimes there are ten depending on what you are looking for.

And are these topical, or authoritative google-balls? Is there a difference between the two?

the little balls indicate that the personalization has aided that site to achieve its current ranking

Put another way, purely speculating of course, those pages with the google-balls next to them have been boosted in the results due to their topic-specific PageRank.

I understand what the google-balls mean, or at least why they are there in the first place. But what I would like to know is how do they assign those balls in the first place? What is it about some of these sites who get the balls, and those who don't? More to the point, I guess, are these "authoritative" sites?

Some interesting results.

Created a customized search for Accounting, then searched for accounting.

The 1st and 9th sites in the normal google results doesn’t make it on the first few pages(stopped looking after that) using the customised search.
The others with the magic balls :) are all pretty much the top 10 from the generic results. Interestingly most of sites with the magic balls are in dmoz either under accounting or an accounting sub category.

Is this something to be excited about or concerned? :)

On the Advanced Google Toolbar

there are two icons

one

:) vote for this site
two

:( vote against this site

It would be interesting to uncover What is done with the "votes"
and how much they factor into SERPs algorithms :confused:

In theory if a hypertext backwards link is a "VOTE" for that Web page for those keywords (especially a pagerank 4+ "voting" Web page),
then it would be a possible consideration that the VOTING done via the toolbar may in some way influence that Web page's SERPs ranking - and it may also be a factor - if the site was referred by a search engine - that those keywords used may count towards the relevancy positioning of that site for those keywords in future SERPs.