Customized search

A non-transitory computer storage medium having instructions, which when executed on a processor, cause the processor to:

• present a configuration tool having an interface that accepts inputs from a designer to design a custom search engine having rules defining what content to search using sub-queries and a form of the sub-queries;
• receive the following information via the interface:
• identification of initial content to be searched by the custom search engine;
• information that specifies how to construct sub-queries based on the rules of the custom search engine from ones of initial search results items that are returned when the initial content is searched by the custom search engine;
• at least one of additional content to be searched and identification of additional content to be searched by the custom search engine using the sub-queries;
• information that specifies how to generate final search results from the initial search results items and additional search result items based on using the sub-queries to search the additional content, wherein the final search results comprise an additional search result item corresponding to each sub-query;
• and
• information that specifies how to arrange the final search results in a search results page that comprises a repeating pattern of an item from the initial search results items with a corresponding item from the additional content;
• store the information that is received via the interface;
• receive an indication of the custom search engine that is to be published with features of the stored information;
• receive via the interface metadata that identifies a platform on which the custom search engine is to be published;
• generate code to publish the custom search engine on the identified platform;
• forward an initial search query provided to the custom search engine to a server that stores the information that is received in the interface and the metadata that identifies the platform on which the custom search engine is published;
• and
• in response to the initial search query, identify the custom search engine based on the metadata, cause the identified custom search engine to search the initial content identified in the information, generate a sub-query to search the additional content based on the rules of the identified custom search engine, and generate final search results based on the information for the identified custom search engine specifying how to generate and arrange the final search results in the search results page from results of searching the initial content and the additional content.

A system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer storage medium coupled to the processor, the computer storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed on the processor cause the processor to:

• present a configuration tool having an interface that accepts inputs from a designer to design a custom search engine having rules defining what content to search using sub-queries and a form of the sub-queries;
• receive the following information via the interface:
• identification of initial content to be searched by the custom search engine;
• information that specifies how to construct sub-queries based on the rules of the custom search engine from initial search result items that are returned when the initial content is searched by the custom search engine;
• at least one of additional content to be searched and identification of additional content to be searched by the custom search engine using the sub-queries;
• information that specifies how to generate final search results from the initial search result items and additional search result items based on using the sub-queries to search the additional content, wherein the final search results comprise an additional search result item corresponding to ones of the initial search result items;
• and
• information that specifies how to arrange the final search results in a search results page that comprises a repeating pattern of an item from the initial search results items with a corresponding item from the additional content;
• store the information that is received via the interface;
• receive an indication of the custom search engine that is to be published with features of the stored information;
• receive via the interface metadata that identifies a platform on which the custom search engine is to be published;
• generate code to publish the custom search engine on the identified platform;
• forward an initial search query provided to the custom search engine to a server that stores the information that is received in the interface and the metadata that identifies the platform on which the custom search engine is published;
• and
• in response to the initial search query, identify the custom search engine based on the metadata, cause the identified custom search engine to search the initial content identified in the information, generate a sub-query to search the additional content based on the rules of the identified custom search engine, and generate final search results based on the information for the identified custom search engine specifying how to generate and arrange the final search results in the search results page from results of searching the initial content and the additional content.