Google AJAX Search API: a Community-Site Social Search Offering
The Google Code Blog announced today the launch of the Google AJAX Search API, and suggested that you "think of it as the Maps API, but for Search -- you just add a single < script > tag to your web page, a few lines of JavaScript, and you have an interactive search box that mixes results from Web Search, Local Search, Video, and Blog Search."

The Put Google Search on Your Web Site page says it "lets you integrate a dynamic Google search module into your web pages so your users can mash up Google search results with other content on your site or add search results clippings to their own content."

That line made me think that this is a Eurekster sort of offering, though it's vague in terms of where users would be mashing this particular data, and what content they'd be adding search results onto.

In all, it makes me think the intended application is targeted towards social sites that allow users to contribute content, which is in line with the recent AdSense API offering.

...well, after checking out the Google AJAX Search API Samples it makes a little more sense to me, and yes it appears to essentially be a method to enable users to better share and apply web/video/map/etc search results to content they create on a given site.

This is a good move for Google - they've apparently learned their lesson from the Google Maps API. Let the development community figure out what you're good for :)
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |