Google Custom Search: Frequently Asked Questions about the Transition

What will happen with my GSA keymatches?

The Google Custom Search Engine uses promotions instead of keymatches. Because the CSE uses the main Google search algorithm, keymatches are seen as unnecessary. Google will rank your site in search results on the U's website in the same way it does on Google.com. The best way to improve how your site shows up in search results is to make sure you follow good SEO practices.

Promotions will be created upon request for upcoming events and will be set to expire on the final day of the event. Promotions will not be created for events with an undefined expiration date.

Units may also submit a promotion request when launching a website with a new URL in order to have the site show up in results before it's crawled by Google. Promotions for new sites will expire after one week.

To make a promotion request, please email [email protected] with the following information:

  • Your desired search terms; similar to Keymatches
  • The title of the page
  • The URL of the page (indicate if this is a new site URL)
  • A description to accompany the promotion
  • URL of a preview image; square is recommended
  • If it's an event, include the dates of your event

In the example below, the top result is the promotion for Exam Jam.

search results for the phrase "exam jam" with the keymatch at the top of the list that links to the user success.umn.edu/events with a title Exam Jam.

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