How Do I Use The Google Ajax Search API?

Written by: KateG • Edited by: Brian Nelson
Published Sep 27, 2009 • Related Guides: Google | API

Using the Google Ajax search API can be a great way to add to your site, but getting started can be confusing. This guide will give you all of the basics that you need.

What comes to the site that you own or manage, you wanted to be the best that it can possibly be. After all, a site with a truly useful set of functions is a site that gets visited often. As we all know a site that gets visited often is a site that has the potential to make quite a bit of money in ad revenue. If some of the features that you want to offer your users, in order to enhance your site and its functionality, are based on something that Google and search for then you may want to consider using the Google Ajax search API.

What is the Google Ajax search API?

Those of you who are generally unfamiliar with the program, the Google Ajax search API is a service that was offering to webmasters and developers in order to allow them to do two things. The first is to be able to add dynamic search results to your own site. The search results can come from Google’s classic search engine, image search engine, video search engine, news results, maps, blogs, book search site or even the Google patent search results. The second thing that the site will allow you to do is build Web apps based on those searches. At first glance it may sound different than doing a search, but if you think about the possibilities for the data those searches return then you’ll see the real potential.

What Language Do I Need to be Able to Code In?

For the most part if you’re using Google Ajax search API in programming in JavaScript. Though for those of you who are not JavaScript familiar there is an option to program flash. Just beware that if you choose to program in flash you will have an extra set of requirements welcomes your development environment.

The Development Process

If you want to get started developing Web tools with Google Ajax search API the first thing that you need to do is visit their site. On that site you can either sign up for an account, or link to one of your existing Google accounts. Once you sign up you will be assigned an API key, and if you want to kill be able to add the Ajax search module to your site as is. If you plan on developing your own applications that are going to need to start reading the search API documentation. This documentation gives you examples of the code and addresses some issues specific to coding for the Google Ajax search API.

Now you can enjoy developing custom search-based applications for your own site. Happy coding!