Universal Search - SEO Marketing Strategies

Up until now organic search engine optimisation has been a relatively straight forward procedure. The objective has been to optimise web content so that it would appear in the organic results of the major search engines.

However, in May 2007, Google began rolling out its new "Universal Search," something it had been working on for several years. This new search option may have long-term implications for search engine optimization companies and marketing competitors in the industry if it is something that is welcomed positively by the general public.

What exactly is Universal Search?

If Google's Universal Search is accepted and becomes the norm, searchers will find that a query brings back results that include not only web pages, but also videos, blogs, images, news articles, and other media available online. While Google already had in place options for searching each of these areas separately, many searchers did not notice those options or were not sure how to use them, a concept that became known as "invisible tabs."

With Universal Search, there's no need to select a separate menu item - the search will return results that encompass many different types of media. For example, a search for "skateboarding" might bring up not only web pages about skateboarding, but also related blog posts, videos showing technique, and news articles on the subject.

Universal Search hasn't been rolled out fully yet. Presently, certain terms will give Universal results, while other searches will remain the same as before. This is a classic Google strategy - roll out gradually, see how it goes down in the public arena, and then decide what to do from there. However, Universal Search as it exists right now is highly likely to change, depending on user feedback.

Also if the limited queries that now return Universal Search results do not generate a positive response, it's likely that Google will revert to its previous, webpage predominated results. They wouldn't want to löse market share, and they've already learned a valuable lesson when they recently released a new algorithm that was not received well and which was subsequently rolled back.

Benefits of Universal Search?

Universal Search brings several benefits to searchers. A searcher no longer has to specify the media he or she is looking for - one keyphrase search will cover everything. And the results from a search will be more comprehensive in many instances, giving a well-rounded picture to the searcher that may include better information than would previously have been found in a search of just one type of media.

Drawbacks of Universal Search?

The problem with Universal Search is that it can muddy the results, and it can also introduce irrelevant results that a searcher cannot use. A search for "Paris Hilton" (ever heard of her?) will bring up news, videos, and other information about the heiress. But it will also bring up a map of the city of Paris showing locations of Hilton hotels, something most searchers that typed that exact phrase probably did not have in mind. Plus, 28% of Internet users are still using slow dialup connections, according to RVA Market Research. Many of these people are likely not interested in videos or other results that require much bandwidth, and such users may turn away from Universal Search entirely - there are, after all, other search engines. No, really - there are.

In addition, there is no way to turn off Universal Search; as it exists right now, it is part of the standard "Web" search, eliminating the ability to simply search web pages and introducing a new wrinkle in search engine optimization efforts. Now, a website is competing not only with other websites, but also with all the other media that will be included in the results that an average searcher achieves. And Universal Search makes it difficult for Google itself to determine the relevance between different types of media, since the factors that determine a web page's relevance are much different than those that would determine a video's relevance, for example.

What Can You Do Now to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready to be Found in a Universal Search?

Clearly, Universal Search will change how an SEO campaign is run if it catches on. You'll need to analyse your industry and decide which types of media might be most important for you. For example, if you are a real estate firm, images of the buildings and homes you are selling might become a very important part of your site, and so you will want to focus on adding alt tags to each image so that not only does your site show up for certain keyphrases, but your images do as well. If you are a business services firm, you instead might want to focus on news items produced by your company - press releases and white papers - and make sure that those are available to search engine spiders and optimised for critical phrases.

If you are working with an outside search engine optimization company already, now is the time to ask what they plan to do in regard to Universal Search. Your search engine optimization company should at least have an awareness of the magnitude of this new way to search on Google and should be able to present you with some sort of plan of attack, even if they plan to wait to embark upon the plan until they know for sure that Universal

Search is going to catch on. If you are looking into hiring an outside search engine optimization company to launch a new campaign, the same holds true - ask your contacts at the firm how they are planning to handle Universal Search. They should at least be familiar with the concept and have a general outline to present to you.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, it's not just Google that's been working on what it calls Universal Search.  Yahoo, MSN, the rejuvenated Ask search engine and several minor search engines such as A9, are all working on their own versions of a universal search that will display different media types. These versions are currently still in the testing phase, but they could be rolled out at any time. What all this means for you and your search engine optimization company is that the face of SEO will be changing dramatically within the next few months, so be ready.