While sites will want to have their own search box, I agree that everyone should be able to search across all government web sites. Numerous focus groups have shown that users have no idea what department publishes which type of info. Providing other avenues on all sites would be a beneficial experience. For example, one of the top queries at the Patent Office is "copyright" but there is no link to the Library of Congress.

The usa.gov internal site search module is customizable so the UI can offer search just with the site or across all .gov sites. I think that having both options available as a consistent experience across all .gov sites is a great idea.

The search provided by USA.gov delivers pretty strong results, but I suspect it is not getting the usage it deserves. Here are some small brainstorming ideas that might help it become more widely used.

1. "Sell" the search functionality more when it exists on other websites. I use sell in the marketing sense. Make it really clear that it is a service that lives outside of the site you are on. It could be as easy as having the default text "USA Search" or a clear "See more results on search.usa.gov" button on the results page.

2. The results page could be made more robust. Bing seems to return good, traditional search results, but this could be taken further. In addition to the results, which I imagine are drawn from any .gov domain, you could have an addition sidebar that breaks out various things (ex. Listeriosis): Agencies responsible for the topic (CDC, FDA), similar areas of oversight (Food Safety), specialized websites (foodsafety.gov).

3. Numerous ideas here point to the issue of too many websites or too much segmentation of content across different agencies. Gov-wide search can help make these separations less significant. To combat walled gardens, the search results should help people leave the current site if it's not the right place. What I mean is, the results could return pages within the current site on one side, and be accompanied by a sidebar of results, not unlike Google ads, that take you out of the current site to other potential better matches. I think users may believe they want to stay in a current site, but would really benefit from knowing that a different site has the answer they are looking for.

4. It may be helpful to append the current .gov domain data set (http://ow.ly/6Gpr4) with additional data points such as topics, programs, keywords and responsibilities. This could serve as a resource for enhancing the search results page. It would also make the data set more useful for external use.

5. The full name "search.usa.gov" is clunky. You can "google" or "Bing" something, but you can't "search.usa.gov something.

6. The fact that Bing delivers the search results complicates the messaging. Maybe their logo can be reduced or the revised results page could make it clear that Bing just delivers the traditional results, but the other sidebar content is not. This is mostly a graphic design issue.

These are half-baked, scattered thoughts, but there you go.

Why reinvent the wheel (over and over)? We can save money/time/human resources by using one great proven product.