WebProNews

Google's Co-op has rebranded Subscribed Links as Search Add-ons, which allow people to build custom search engines that Google users can make a part of their regular search experience. The Search Add-ons that have become an option on the Google Preferences page provide subscribed search results from specific resources in response to queries that trigger them. These results appear in OneBox territory, atop Google's search results.

Such customization requires ceding a little of the search experience to Google; people have to be logged in to Google to benefit from the Search Add-ons. Google Operating System noted how a subscribed link will be triggered when queries match a pattern for the add-on.

To see these specialized results, people subscribe to the link provided on the Search Add-on creator's Google Co-op profile page. Get enough people to subscribe, and the add-on could be added to Google's directory of subscribed links, where more people should be able to find it.

On the security side, Google's patent application for the Subscribed Links/Search Add-ons described how they will counter potential issues like destructive output text, or induced overflows of the system.

Only a few Search Add-ons appear in Google's Add-on Directory, unsurprising due to the relatively unknown nature of the service before today. We don't see it as a worthy competitor yet to the Smart Answers used at Ask.com, as Google has few add-ons available and requires one to be logged in to use them.