Site Search/Google Custom Search – 4Schools Help Center

Adding a Site Search to your website allows visitors to quickly locate information. This article will go through the process of how to add a Custom Google Search to your website. After adding a new Google Custom Search ID to your site, please allow Google about 4-6 weeks to thoroughly index your new website in order for best search results.

Enabling a Site Search Across the Entire Site

Within the CMS4Schools Web Site Administrator, click on Navigation Builder Home.

Select Site Search Results from the drop-down menu at the top of the page content area.

Click on Main Body for the one page that exists in that category. This will open the Search Results screen that contains the Google Customer Search Results tool.

Google Custom Search Results Tool

Use the click here option to create a google custom search engine for your site.
Update the tool with the Google Custom Search ID created.
edit the tool to show in an active status to display the search box.

See the rest of the article for more details on each of these steps.

Creating a Google Custom Search Engine

Use the click here option on the Google Custom Search Results tool to be taken to the Google website to create the site search and obtain the code needed to add this functionality to your website.

Select the Create a custom search engine button.

Sites to Search: Enter the URL(s) of your website.
Name of search engine: Enter your school district name
If you wish, you can utilize more advanced options by clicking on the link and following the instructions provided.
Click Create.

Configure/Edit Search Engine

Before grabbing the code and activating the search on your site, it is important to configure the search engine.

Setup

Click on Edit search engine near the top left and then select Setup.

In the Sites to Search section, verify that all the sites/domains to be included are listed. If needed, you can add or delete URLs.
Verify that the Search the entire web option is OFF.
Select Update to save the changes.

If you are a nonprofit, school, or government agency, navigate to the Ads tab to start the setup of the free version of the Custom Search Engine without ads.

Look and Feel

Click on Edit search engine near the top left and then select Look and Feel.

Choose Results Only and then Save.

Get Search ID

Along the left, click on Setup.
At the top, you will see the Basics tab.
Near the middle of the page, click on Search engine ID. Copy your search engine ID and go back to CMS4Schools to complete the update in the Google Custom Search Results Tool.

Update Google Custom Search Results Tool

In the Google Custom Search Results tool, select Update to open the Edit Google Custom Search ID screen.

Google Custom Search ID: Paste the code (from the Search ID section)
Select Update to save.

Note: Unless you have a starter site, you will not need to update the results width, button text, or other properties, as they will be determined based on your design.

Set Google Custom Search Results Tool to Active

In the Google Custom Search Results tool, select edit, update the status to Active and select Save.

The Search box will now be displayed throughout your site.