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Guide to: Adding a Google Search to your Job

When you build an Appen job that requires contributors to search for something on Google, it’s a good idea to add one or more “prepopulated Google search links” to your job.
 
A “prepopulated Google search link” is simply a button in your task that automatically opens a new browser window and performs a search on Google when clicked.  Adding this feature to your job will streamline your workers’ process and allow them to focus on finding you the online resources you need.
 
Here is how it’s done:

This snippet is the general URL to conduct a search on Google:

http://www.google.com/search?q={{my_search}}

1. Begin by copying this short block of code into your job: 
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/search?q={{ my_search | urlencode }}" class="btn">Click here to search</a>

(It’s usually a good idea to add this button near the top of your form, close to any other instructional information you have entered, and where contributors can easily find it.)

 

2. Update the variable “my_search” to match the header of the column in your data that you want contributors to search for.

For example, if you have a column called “company_names” that you want contributors to use in their searches, replace “my_search” with “company_names”.
  

3. Preview your task and try it out.

 


Customizing your search:

    • To add a second search term from your data, simply add a second variable with a “+” in between, like so:
       
      href="http://www.google.com/search?q={{ my_search | urlencode }}+{{ my_search_2 | urlencode }}"
      

 

  • To add quotes around a search term in order to require Google to search for the exact string in your data, add “&quot;” before and after your search variable.  These will appear as quotes in the Google search bar:

     
    ​href="http://www.google.com/search?q= &quot;{{ my_search | urlencode }} &quot;"


 


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