Customizing Google search. Possible?

Dear DevShed,

My question today is whether or not Google has a tool or service that allows anyone to take their search data and customize/work with it.

I know! As I ask, I am already in the Google Code FAQ digging around for the answers myself. However, I am completely new to this sort of thing; using Google and its own conventions for my personal, customized and somewhat deviant usage.

Furthermore, I have some obstacles that I must conquer. I presume that these types of things are serviced using AJAX, RSS feeds or something dynamic which I know nothing about. My general knowledge in web development is in PHP and SQL.

Again, to be very clear. Does Google offer a service that would allow me to display customized search results on my OWN web page, without the use or knowledge of AJAX, JavaScript, or anything else other than PHP?

Many thanks!
Copan

Okay, I've figured out the answer to question #1 myself. The Google search API is designed using AJAX and implemented using JavaScript. Since JavaScript isn't far off from PHP, I've settled for learning the way objects work in JavaScript.

My second question, then, is can you take Google's search results and change the look of them using CSS??

This is very important, and to be clear I'll repeat what I've said. What I intend to do, is to change the look of each individual search result with PHP integration. For example, at the end of a search result on "JavaScript", you will see "www.javascript.com". Is it possible to change the color of "www.javascript.com" or even turn it into a hyperlink?

I haven't yet found a way to use CSS to alter the look of the search results, and that is all I need to do.

Thanks again.

If they send them the same way that they display them its easy. BUT, this is a CSS question, not an SEO one.

The entries have "class='r'", etc scattered through them. so, figure out what you want to do with that, and over ride it in your style sheet. That's all there is to it.

Do you know of a way to manipulate the output itself? Like would I be able to turn the address at the bottom of a result into a link?

That would be great if I could.

thanks!

The only way that I know to do that is to write your own server-side script to do so. It can be done in pretty much anything.