Listed below are just a few of the features and benefits of the Google Search Appliance (GSA). If you have any questions about any of the items listed below, please contact us.

Indexing Frequency. Unlike the free Google University Search which indexed content only once per month, the GSA is constantly crawling uwm.edu for new or updated content. New or updated content is typically indexed within 30 minutes.

Spell Check Searches. The GSA supports spell checking in searches. This can be seen on google.com and is helpful if a user is not sure of the spelling of a keyword.

QuickMatches. QuickMatches allow the GSA administrator to define certain sites that should appear at the top of the search results list when a particular keyword or phrase is searched on. For example, if a user searched for “transcripts”, the GSA could recognize that as a QuickMatch and display Enrollment Services’ transcript information page at the top of the search results list. Google.com displays these QuickMatches as “sponsored links” within its search results page. Learn more about QuickMatches.

Support for Over 220 File Types. The GSA supports the indexing of over 220 file types including PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The GSA actually indexes the content of these files, not just the file names. This is a key feature as many official University documents are in the PDF format.

Reporting. The GSA offers extensive reporting that shows metrics like top queries and keywords.

Custom Search Results. The GSA outputs all search results in XML, which allows for easy integration with the design of existing sites. Additionally, search collections can easily be created to allow individual sites to search only the content within their web directory. Coupled with the customized search results page, this provides seamless Google search integration into any UWM site. Learn more about how you can include Google searching on your site.

Index Databases & Protected Content. The GSA has the capability to crawl content contained in relational databases, as well as content held within password-protected areas of the web site. Password-protected content is not crawled by default; however, that functionality can be configured on the GSA.