Google Custom Search Backend now has supports Site Restricted API!

Product/Library Releases & New Features
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Answers now supports the Site Restricted Google API

Answers now supports the Site Restricted Google API for Google Custom Search backends via Config as Code.

With this new API, Answers Experiences can now support an:

  • Unlimited number of Searches per day
  • Searching up to 10 Sites

For each of their Google Backends.

For higher volume Answers Experiences, this will allow you to comfortably support any amount of searches your experience is receiving.

Differences between Site Restricted and Unrestricted API

There are two main differences between the Site Restricted API and current functionality (Unrestricted API) are:

  1. Limit on Searches per day
  2. Limit on Sites to Search

Today, Google Backends using the Unrestricted API are limited to a max of 10,000 searches per day on up to 20 sites.

With the Site Restricted API, you will now have the option to support unlimited searches on up to 10 sites per day.

In short, the main difference between these endpoints are sites to search versus searches per day.

For high volume Experiences, Hitchhikers should use the Site Restricted API.

For low to medium volume Experiences with a larger amount of sites to search (over 10), Hitchhikers should use the Unrestricted API.

By default, all Experiences will use the Unrestricted API unless otherwise set.

What happens if I go over my Sites to Search?

For almost all Answers Experiences, this should not be a concern as 10 sites should allow you to comfortably support your backend.

However if you do exceed your sites to search limit only the first 10 (or 20 depending on your API choice) sites specified will be used to return results.

Each subsequent site specified will not be included in your Google Backend results.

How can I set this up?

Hitchhikers can start using the Site Restricted API by adding the following parameter “siteRestricted”: true to their Google Backend of choice, example below:

"links": {
      "apiKey": {API_KEY},
      "cx": {CX_ID},
      "siteRestricted": true,
      "source": "GOOGLE_CSE",
      "useSynonyms": "ALL_SYNONYMS"
    }