Google Coop Gets Useful

To coincide with Google breaking its stock price record, Google has released a product that makes Coop useful. It's the Google Coop Custom Search Engine, and it gives users unprecedented power to create a customised web search.

CSE creates a topic specific search engine by letting you:

• Restrict to or weight by sites you specify as particularly relevant.
• Tag sites using the 'Google Marker' to add labels to sites, or add sites to your search engine.
  
• Monetise your search with Adsense.
• Embed your search (and results) on your site with search boxes and Ajax.
  
• Let others collaborate to create an uber search on a given topic.

It looks like a really powerful new tool that could be very useful in decluttering famously spam filled search topics, or helping promote good results in more obscure topics. As always the proof will be in the uptake.