Google’s Co-op is coming surprisingly late since Vertical search was hip almost two years ago. What Google has done is enabling specialized search while retaining ownership of the search traffic. Google Co-op allows site owners to choose which Web sources to crawl and let them leverage their community of users to improve that index and results. Web site owners can use the platform to launch specialized search engines focused on the areas of their expertise. Ads will be sold and served through AdSense for Search.

During the presentation for the product’s release, Google executives demonstrated several instances of vertical search sites created during the program’s testing phase. These included a custom search interface for Intuit’s small business portal JumpUp.com and one for a climate science research group, at RealClimate.org. The latter, because of its non-profit status, is not required to carry the AdSense ads that will enable Google to monetize the product. Universities and government organizations are also exempt from ads. All individuals and for-profit entities using the product, however, must accept the company’s trademark sponsored links, and will share in revenue generated by them. The revenue split is the same as that offered across the AdSense network.

Site that want to build a search engine can submit a name, description and list of sites to be crawled for results on their engine-to-be. They then will receive a chunk of code they can use to add the specialized engine to their site.

I agree with Google executives who called Google Co-op one of the company’s most important product releases in Q4. For marketers who buy keywords through AdWords, the vertical search product likely won’t bring short-term changes in the way search audience.

The technology is similar to another customized search product, Rollyo, which launched over year ago; though there are differences between the two. Mainly, Google Co-op is potentially collaborative, meaning site users can take part in creating and improving the engine. It also can be hosted on a Webmaster’s own site and doesn’t require users to navigate to a Google-owned domain. In addition, Google Co-opis monetized with Google’s sponsored links.

You can see a sample for a Google coop site at QUASEO.com.