Google's Universal Search Results - New Challenges, New Opportunities

With the recent launch of “Universal Search,” Google has made revolutionary changes to its search interface. This new interface creates considerable challenges and opportunities for companies engaged in search engine marketing (SEM). Search engine marketers are now forced to take a more holistic approach in their quest to drive traffic and create brand recognition through Google’s search engine listings.

What is Universal Search?
Most Internet users are familiar with the standard Google Web search interface, which typically lists text titles and descriptions of Web sites relevant to a particular query. On the other hand, a vast majority of users are not aware of Google’s other “Vertical” search engine interfaces, such as Google Images, Google News, and Google Video. These vertical (or specialized) search engines narrow a user’s query to a particular content type (i.e. images, news, video, etc…). By integrating listings from its various vertical search engines directly into its primary search engine result pages (SERPs), Google is making this “other content” more obvious to the less savvy search engine user.

Whahhhht? You say….
For an example of universal search, try performing a standard Google search for Darth Vader and you’ll see (as of 5/24/07) a news result ranking 1st, an embedded video ranking 7th, and images on the bottom of the page. While universal results are currently not appearing for most queries, changes are being rolled out in a phased approach, and more of these universal SERP listings will begin to appear as time goes on.

Impacts on Search Engine Marketing
Universal search has dramatically increased the importance of diversifying Web site optimization and promotion strategies. Companies that rely solely on Web page editing to drive organic rankings are going to fall in the SERP rankings, while companies that optimize and promote multiple content types are going to gain in the SERP rankings. This paradigm shift translates into an exponential increase in the value of multimedia development and syndication, social media marketing, online news (namely online public relations optimization and social news), local search, XML feeds, and RSS feeds. For companies that are operating in a competitive market and/or want to create a defensible and sustainable presence in the SERPs, implementing these additional search marketing tactics has become more of a requirement than an option.

Posted by John Faris

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