Google Offers Sites Its Services

The Google search engine is already one of the Internet’s most popular destinations. Now the company is offering its search services all over the Web.

Google Inc. on Friday began allowing Web logs and other smaller online publishers to include its search engine on their sites. Revenue from the targeted ads displayed next to search results will be split between Google and the website operators.

The move is part of the Mountain View, Calif., company’s effort to expand the reach of its search engine and the ads that appear beside the results. Google already allows large websites to use its search technology, and 95% of the company’s $962 million in revenue last year came from such ads.

Google also is hoping to fend off rivals like Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN service, which have recently boosted their search efforts.

Google is aiming to set itself apart with a new technology called “flavored” search that customizes results to reflect where they’re done.

For example, a search for “stars” on a website devoted to Hollywood celebrities would return more results -- and more ads -- about actors than about astronomy, said Marissa Mayer, Google’s director of consumer Web products.

“That makes the search much more relevant and makes the ads around it more relevant,” said Charlene Li, a principal analyst with Forrester Research.

And that makes it more likely that a searcher will click on an ad; Google doesn’t get paid without clicks.