Whether you’re a blogger or a SMB owner, you’ll find the below eight widgets useful in delivering search functionality to your website and readers. Most of the widgets are also configurable such that you can promote your own brand and content:

Google Newsmap

Overview: Newsmap is a visual reflection of Google News headlines in a customizable, easy-to-digest widget. You can configure the widget’s size, layout, country and news category (seven options from business to sports to entertainment). Within the widget, you can filter news by time, region and layout.

Ideal Use Cases: Newsmap is unique because the content is so dynamic and visual. Consequently, it works perfectly as the anchor in single blog post themes (either beneath the main post or the comments). It also works well as a news source / filter on start pages like Netvibes.

Google Web, News Video & Blog Viewer

Overview: Show Google web, news, video and blog post results with fine-grained control over what sorts of content is shown to your visitors. You configure the search terms, widget layout, display mode, and so forth. Beware: the choices are daunting!

Ideal Use Cases: Social web users with a presence throughout the web: blogs, video, and so forth. Also ideal for SMB marketers hoping to promote their presence across the web.

Google Site Search

Overview: Allow readers to search any website or domain using Google Site Search. You can configure the searchable site (the below instance is for http://blog.ingamenow.com); and because the widget’s background is clear, it inherits your website’s style / CSS.

Ideal Use Cases: Perfect for blog side bars or site footers.

Google Web Search and Search With Google

Overview: Similar to the Google Site Search Widget, but instead of searching a specified website or domain, the widget opens a Google web search. Similarly, the widget has a clear background and thus inherits your site’s style. Both open Google searches in a new window.

Ideal Use Cases: Perfect for blogs where the intent is to deliver users to Google searches across the web rather than a particular domain.

Tiny Google Search with Custom Domain & Logo

Overview: If real estate on your website is *very* precious, this is the widget for you. It’s all of 23 pixels tall – making it conspicuous but powerful. The widget allows you customize the searchable site / domain and even allows you to include your own logo in the search results.

Ideal Use Cases: Perfect for the real estate conscious as it fits easily in blog sidebars, headers and footers.

Google Social Search

Overview: A simple search box to allow searches across Google, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. No configurations available – but none are really needed in this simple, but effective widget.

Ideal Use Cases: Perfect for social network pages like MySpace.

Google News Bar

Overview: A simple wide widget that scrolls through Google News headlines for an inputted search term(s). The widget displays headlines and is configurable based on size, cycle mode and display mode (horizontal or vertical). The below widget is configured for the search term “Red Sox”.

Ideal Use Cases: Perfect for the base of a blog post. You can have the widget display news for your company or the headline in your post.

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