Customize the search experience in Cloud Search

Available only with Cloud Search Platform

To tailor the search experience for the business needs of your organization, you can create a custom search application for Google Cloud Search. Search applications control the content users can search and let users refine their search to get more relevant results. 

The search interface that your users use to search for data in your company must have at least one corresponding search application. A search application provides the default parameters for a query, such as the data sources to include, the sort order, filters, and facets to request.

What is the default search application?

Your organization can use the default search application on cloudsearch.google.com and the Cloud Search mobile app. The default application searches Google Workspace services, such as Gmail and Drive. You can also customize the default application to fit your business needs. For example, you might want to add third-party data sources, such as a database repository, to the default search application. 

Before you begin

Before you can create a custom search application, the following prerequisites must be in place:

• A developer needs to define a schema for your structured data using the Cloud Search Indexing API. For more information, see Create and register a schema.
• You need to add at least one data source. For details, see Add a data source in Google Cloud Search.

Create a custom search application

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu  Apps > Google Workspace > Cloud Search.

   Requires having the Service Settings administrator privilege.

3. Click Search Applications.
4. At the top, click Add .
5. For Display Name, enter a name for the search application and click Create.
   You can see the search application in the list, including its autogenerated application ID.
6. Point to the search application that you created and click Edit .
7. Point to Data sources and click Edit .
8. Next to the data sources that you want to turn on for this search application, click On .
9. (Optional) To configure the search options for the data sources, go to Configure search options (below on this page).
10. (Optional) To not allow Cloud Search to apply a personalized ranking^* to search results, turn it off:
    1. Under Tuning parameters, point to Personalized ranking and click Edit Off .
    2. Click Done.

^*Personalized ranking increases the priority of search results that have a personal connection to the user. For example, documents shared specifically with a user rank higher than documents shared with a group the user is a member of.

After you add the search application, it appears in the list of search applications. Your developer needs the application ID to use with the search widget or the Query API. For details, see Search interfaces.

Configure search options

When you create search applications, you can set different search options for each data source you turn on. These search options depend on what your developer sets up for the data source when they create and register a schema. If you're unsure about how to set some of these options, consult with a Google Cloud Search developer at your company.

Edit or delete a search application