Most commercial (and many personal) websites include a "search this site" functionality. It's particularly essential when you run a business and want to make it easy for your customers to find info on your site.
There are two choices for setting up search on your site. You can either install your own site indexing software (which requires some technical know-how to get it installed and running). Or you can add Google's site search to your site.
Google
Site Indexing Software
- ht://Dig, for Unix. It hasn't been
updated in a few years, but it's free.
- WebGlimpse, for Unix. Free for educational
and government use; free 30-day demo for all others (requires a
license for commercial use).
- Swish-E - or "Swish Enhanced", another free site indexer. For Unix and Windows.
- Google Site Search is easy to install;
all you have to do is create your search form, and paste in the form code from Google.
Their system does the hard work of indexing your site and displaying the results.
The starter version is free (but the search results will show text ads next to the results). Or you can upgrade to the ad-free Business edition for just $100/year.