Patent ID: 8725716

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a system of one or more computers, a first result set produced by a first custom search engine in response to a first search query, the first result set including one or more references to web pages; receiving, by the system and from a first user, an alert specification, the alert specification including a search engine identifier identifying a second custom search engine, a second search query for submitting to the second custom search engine, and a previous result identifier identifying the first result set, wherein: the second search query differs from the first search query, or the second custom search engine differs from the first custom search engine; submitting the second search query to the second custom search engine; receiving a current result set from the second custom search engine in response to the second search query, the current result set including one or more references to web pages; identifying one or more differences between the current result set and the first result set according to a user preference specified in the alert specification; determining one or more alert elements based on the identified one or more differences, each alert element operable to notify the first user that at least a portion of the first result set has changed; and providing to the first user a customized alert according to the alert specification, the customized alert including the one or more alert elements.