Build your own shopping search engine in 5 minutes

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Fed up with irrelevant Google search results, I customized a new search engine to search only the top bargain sites I trust.





Permanent link to search engine.

Have you ever been frustrated with Google when you're trying to find the latest deals and coupons? A lot of times the search results are cluttered with spam and advertising.

Sure, you can just go to Fatwallet directly, but then you always get that nagging feeling that you are missing out on something. What if Slickdeals has a slightly better coupon? I refuse to pay $15 for a 6 GB flashdrive when I just know that if I searched hard enough I can find one for $12!

Using Google Co-op, I was able to customize Google to search only the following top websites for deals, coupons, and freebies:

anandtech

bargainist

bensbargains

clipfire

couponcabin

couponcraze

couponmountain

currentcodes

dealcatcher

dealmac

dealnews

dealofday

deals2buy

dealsea

dealslist

dealsofamerica

dealspl.us

dealtaker

edealinfo

fatwallet

flamingoworld

gotapex

gottadeal

judysbook

quicktoclick

resellerratings

savvies

slickdeals

smarter

spoofee

techbargains

trezr

wisebread

xpbargains

Building Your Own Search Engine

Modifying the search engine only took me five minutes. After creating a Google account (you already have one if you have Gmail):

  • Enter some keywords to help refine the search. For example, if your search engine is for DVDs, then you should put in words like DVD, coupons, movies, blu-ray, etc.
  • Bonus tip: If you have a Google Adsense account, make sure you put your ID in there so you can earn money from your search engine.

If you don't have your own website, you can save your search engine to you personal Google homepage.

The Clipfire Alternative

Clipfire also searches through a lot of great bargain websites. My only complaint is that they are a bit too inclusive, so sometimes I still end up seeing a lot unknown websites from their results.

Photo by Looking Glass

Tagged: Shopping

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Will Chen's picture

Can't have a VIP list without the Bargainist.  =)

Guest's picture
Guest

love that search!

How about a google page engine that searches price engine sites like:
http://www.pricetaker.com
http://www.mysimon.com
http://www.nextag.com
http://www.shopping.com
http://www.pricegrabber.com

Will Chen's picture

That's a cool idea, I'll give it a shot.  At first I ignored shopping.com and pricegrabber.com because I thought sites like bargainist and fatwallet offer more updated deals (that's why they always use pricegrabber as a benchmark).  But it never hurts to try new things.

Guest's picture
Yan

as it will do some extra search results processing to make them look better.
For a review go to
http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/05/new-search-engine-launched-meet-c...

As far as aggregating deals, I like Boddit and Roosster. They are way more convenient than using Google Coop or Rollyo.com

Will Chen's picture

I like Boddit a lot but actually never tried Roosster.  I'll check them out.

Guest's picture

Checkout the http://www.Dealitem.com to search for deals and coupons and also to bring the all in one search for all deals, coupons and branded shopping sites.

Guest's picture
Guest

Cool Site

Guest's picture
flanceco

Woo, this engine you suggested is so powerful, i always check the www.dealunion.com for the good bargains and coupons

Guest's picture
Tom

Whatever you're looking for, find it with Couponalbum site- leads online shoppers straight to many of the internet's most popular brand name merchants that help them save a good amount of money. Try it.......

Guest's picture
Joe

I never knew you could do that. I 'll surely give that a try.
With regards deals and bargains, I like www.combyo.com a lot. Hot deals are grabbed from the best deal sites and put in one place.

Guest's picture
Guest

Good article. I got my custom deal search engine working as described, however I could not integrate my favourite deals website UnoDeals.com . Google errors out on it.

Guest's picture
Guest

To intergate www.unodeals.com you need to check with them to get their RSS feed.

Guest's picture
Guest

As a smart shopper, hunting on the coupons roundup site turn out to be necessary. Check out the www.aodeal.com, which maybe save you a lot of dough.

Guest's picture
dealofus

Most people would be puzzled when shopping, because they don't know how to choose the one which is most suitable for them or they cannot find the best deal in time. www.dealofus.com is the best guide for you. You can always find the updated and best deals, coupons and rebates. www.dealofus.com just offer the best.

Guest's picture
Guest

Please drop by and browse for the latest deals while you laugh at some comedy.

Guest's picture
NEWMOON

Try www.3godeals.com to find deals and coupon code

Guest's picture
Asim Eron

Hi,

Great trick man. I was using netvibes to make my search engine. But from now I will follow what you have written. You can expand list as well.

http://www.couponchef.com (coupon site)
http://www.cheapdeals101.com (Deal site)

Hope this helps you.

Regards,
Asim.

Guest's picture
Lauren Bayles

This is awesome. I created my custom search engine using Google Co-op, but I'm not sure where to paste the code. I want to put it on my Google homepage. Can't add it as a gadget, b/c it asks for a URL. Help!