Blend the Power of Google Natively into Your Website’s Aesthetic
We have already covered how easy it is to integrate Google’s search engine onto your WordPress website. It offloads processing power, handles typos like a charm, and leverages the best search algorithm in the world.
However, many site owners hesitate to use Google Custom Search because of a common complaint: it looks cheap.
Out of the box, Google’s search widget can look like an awkward, blocky iframe that clashes with your carefully designed typography, color palettes, and spacing. It can scream “this is a template” to your visitors, breaking the professional feel of your brand.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. With a little bit of custom CSS and some advanced dashboard configuration, you can completely customize Google Custom Search so it blends seamlessly into your theme, making it look like a fully custom, high-end design.
Step 1: Choosing the Cleanest Layout Option
The first step in styling your Google search happens inside the Google Programmable Search Engine control panel.
Under the Look and feel settings in the left-hand menu, you are presented with several layout options.
- Avoid the “Compact” or “Classic” layouts, as they force Google’s outdated styling onto your page.
- Instead, choose the Results Only layout.
By choosing Results Only, you tell Google: “I will build my own custom search form with my own HTML and CSS. You just handle the actual search results and display them on a specific section of my page.”
This is the ultimate secret to a premium look. It allows you to use your theme’s native, beautiful search input bar, while Google quietly handles the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
Step 2: Styling the Input Form (The Front-End Match)
Since we are using our own HTML input form, we can make it look exactly the way we want. Here is a clean, modern, minimalist HTML and CSS search bar design that looks incredibly professional:
HTML
<!-- The Custom Input Form -->
<form action="/search-results/" method="GET" class="custom-search-bar">
<input type="text" name="q" placeholder="What are you looking for today?" required>
<button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>
CSS
/* Clean, Modern Styling */
.custom-search-bar {
display: flex;
max-width: 600px;
margin: 20px auto;
border: 2px solid #eaeaea;
border-radius: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #ffffff;
transition: border-color 0.3s ease;
}
.custom-search-bar:focus-within {
border-color: #007bff; /* Highlight color on focus */
}
.custom-search-bar input {
flex-grow: 1;
padding: 15px 25px;
border: none;
outline: none;
font-size: 16px;
color: #333333;
}
.custom-search-bar button {
background-color: #007bff;
color: #ffffff;
border: none;
padding: 0 30px;
font-size: 16px;
font-weight: 600;
cursor: pointer;
transition: background-color 0.2s ease;
}
.custom-search-bar button:hover {
background-color: #0056b3;
}
This clean, rounded look fits perfectly into almost any modern, minimalist layout.
Step 3: Hosting the Google Code on Your Results Page
Now, create a dedicated page in your WordPress site called “Search Results” with the URL slug [yourwebsite.com/search-results/](https://yourwebsite.com/search-results/).
Inside this page, add a Custom HTML block and paste Google’s results-only script. When a user submits your custom search bar, the page redirects to this results page, pulling the query parameter (q) from the URL and displaying Google’s indexed results in a clean, integrated grid.
Step 4: Overriding Google’s Default Font and Color Styles
Even with a “Results Only” layout, Google’s outputted links and text inside the results container might still use generic blue link colors and basic Arial fonts.
You can easily override these styles by targeting Google’s native CSS classes in your main stylesheet. Add these CSS rules to your site’s Customizer to make Google’s results match your brand:
CSS
/* Force Google results to use your website's custom fonts */
.gsc-results-wrapper-noresults, .gsc-webResult {
font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif !important;
}
/* Change Google link colors to match your brand's color palette */
.gs-title a, .gs-title b {
color: #007bff !important;
text-decoration: none !important;
}
.gs-title a:hover, .gs-title b:hover {
color: #0056b3 !important;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
/* Hide the search engine attribution logos for a cleaner look */
.gcsc-branding {
display: none !important;
}
The Professional Polish
By taking full control of the HTML structure, designing a modern input form, and forcing Google’s outputs to adopt your website’s typography and color codes, you achieve the best of both worlds: the robust performance of Google Custom Search, wrapped in a polished design that feels native to your website.
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