Search engine admits lower approval (8)
I believe the answer is:
blessing
'approval' is the definition.
(I know that approval can be written as blessing)
'search engine admits lower' is the wordplay.
'search engine' becomes 'Bing' (Bing is a search engine).
'admits' indicates putting letters inside (to admit is to allow in).
'lower' becomes 'less' (synonyms).
'bing' placed around 'less' is 'BLESSING'.
(Other definitions for blessing that I've seen before include "Benefit, boon" , "Protecting prayer" , "Beneficial thing for which one is grateful" , "Approval" , "Consecration" .)