As has been widely reported and blogged about, earlier today Google released the latest version of the Google Toolbar. This new version includes several new features that have already been well documented by others, including the ability to create custom buttons for the toolbar. These customization features seem very powerful, including the ability to incorporate RSS feeds. The continued onslaught of RSS readers (Bloglines, Google Reader, NewsGator, NewsAlloy, SearchFox, Rojo, Findory, etc.) and Ajax homepages, coupled with innovations like this and the pending launch of IE 7.0 with native RSS support later this year will further the widespread adoption of RSS.
However, something that hasn't been discussed yet is that the custom buttons enable the Google Toolbar to be used to search Yahoo, MSN, or any other site (like the Alacra Store). And, Google even made it really simple to do...
First, you install the Google Toolbar. Then, as you're browsing the web, if you come across a search form that you'd like the Google Toolbar to replicate, all you need to do is right-click in the textbox and select "Generate Custom Search". Then, a popup box will appear where you can give your custom button a name and description. All you need to do is click "Add".
And, that's it. You're done. You can repeat the process as often as you want and add "custom" buttons for sites like MSN, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, etc. Then, as you're browsing the web, and come across something of interest that you want to search for on one of these sites, all you have to do is type in your search term in the toolbar and click your new button and instantly get the results from your favorite site or search engine of choice.
For anyone that deals in search engine optimization, or who can't always find what they're looking for on Google, or who has decided to reduce Google's share of his web clickstream, this is a very useful and easy to use tool.
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