I spotted something on Google today which I hadn’t seen before and is a new development in universal search.  On a search for “times” I was presented with the standard search results you get for a brand term but then in addition to this there was a search box contained with the results! On entering a search phrase into this box I was presented with the site search results but still with the Google SERP.  This functionality is well known and nothing new but the inclusion of the search box in the results is not something I have seen before. 

It is obviously just another element of Universal Search in action but is alos a good tool for Google to make their results as accurate as possible and keep people within their pages.  By allowing them to search within Google for keywords contained within a site you are not only enhancing the user experience but promoting loyalty and boosting query numbers at the same time, win all round.  On top of this they are also able to produce additional Adwords results on the secondary search and potentially boosting revenues as well.

Search engine land reported today the release of some new functional by ask which allows a user to upload their own personal background image for the search engine.  The functionality to add a skin to the background has been available since last year but this was only for predetermined images and wasn’t customisable.  I like the idea of customising the results page and this is a much simpler solution than Google’s which involves xml information rather than a simple image upload.  It is also much more flexible and interesting than msn and yahoo’s offerings which only allow the selection of different colour palletes for the page.

This functionality is just another stage in the battle for search engine supremacy but also for loyalty within internet users through added value.  Yahoo had this a long time ago through positioning itself as an information portal and one stop shop for your internet needs (email, news, sport, search…) a similar position taken by MSN.  Then Google smashed this with its simplicity and accuracy of results.  But even the big G has recognised the need to give people more and through iGoogle struck a balance between information on the page and usability by allowing the user to choose which information feeds they received.  The issue at the bottom of all of this is keeping people using your page/engine, setting it as their homepage, and a base for all their online activities.  If they can use your site for everything they need online whey would they go elsewhere?  The longer a user in on your site, the more searches they do, the more ads they view, the more ads they click, the more money you make! Simple.  Expect a lot more releases like in this in the next 12 months as the battle continues.

It’ll take a lot more functionality for Yahoo, Ask or MSN to catch Google but I do know people who now use the Yahoo homepage as they prefer it to Google so there is some movement going on.   You can check out the Ask function on the US site here, it is not yet available in the UK.

It was announced last week on the official google blog that Google are currently testing out their latest project Google Knol which is a wiki based information source populated by knowledgeable contributed and edited by the users.  This is obviously a direct competition to Wikipedia and is based on the same principles and ideas. 

Apparently the challenge posed by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge, and this was their solution.  At the moment the tool is only open to a select group of invited individuals and the tool is in its first stage of development and testing but with the speed at which Google tend to do things I cant see it being long before its launched to the public.  According to the article goal is for Knols to cover all topics and to highlight and credit authors, something which is rarely done online. 

Much like on Wikipedia users will be able to submit edits, questions, comments, additional content etc etc but they can also include Adsense ads in relation to their article and earn a percentage of the revenue earned through these ads.  This is where Knol might steel a march on Wikipedia as Wiki users participate for free and have no option to earn money.  It is a nice touch from Google as they are appearing to be giving back to the contributors when in reality they are obviously taking the Lion’s share of the profits for themselves.

One question that does need to be asked is what does this mean for Wikipedia, and in particular their search rankings?  They do very well in the natural results and Google have often been criticised for ranking the site so well.  Could it be that we will start to see the demise of Wiki’s search rankings once Knol is introduced, now that would be convenient!  However Google might not even need to do this as they say in their article “A Knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.” Which suggests to me that the Knol’s may become a part of the Universal Search page and appear above all the natural results anyway.  Could the end be nigh for Wikipedia?

Tags: wikipedia, Google, universal search, google knol, knol

Google’s Universal Search project has been well documented and for a while now it has been integrating its other properties (i.e. maps, product search etc) into the standard SERP. But whilst searching this week I noticed that once a search is completed which produces maps results Google are now limiting the natural search results to 7 listings for page 1. This has huge implications for search engine optimisers as it makes it even more difficult to get front page exposure. It is also safe to assume that as other types of results are integrated into Universal Search that this number could easily reduce further.

We have seen this with Ask as well with their new platform. Due to their inclusion of images video and definitions into their SERP they are now only showing 8 paid search listings. Google could easily follow suit as this can be used (as it has been by Ask) to free up real estate on the right hand side of the page. they will need to be careful how they go about doing this however as the paid listings are their main revenue driver and any reduction or change in their format could reduce earnings significantly.

It will be interesting to see how universal search pans out and if it has the desired effect. Personally if I want to search for an image I am more than happy to visit the image search page directly and likewise with video, but maybe for the less educated user a one stop search shop this would be more appealing.

Something I have just spotted in the Google results which I have never seen before. On a search for nike the result for the official nike website was showing a plus symbol accompanied by the phrase Stock quote for Nike and one clicking it the result expanded down to show the Google finance result for the Nike sports company.I have never seen this in the search results before and to me it shows a new level of interaction in the SERP. The ability to expand and minimise sections of the page to show and remove certain information. Although there has long been the option to see similar page results this has always been through a new search page and involved having to navigate away from the original results. With the ability to expand down results there would be the option to see the top 10 pages for a website or other similar information without losing your original search. I think we could see further usages of this button in the future.

As the evolution of the search engine results page (SERP) pick up speed advertisers need to begin asking the question, what does it all mean to me?

The advent of Google’s universal search and the inevitable following suit of the other search engines will signify a new dawn in search engine marketing. I have listed below a few things which I think will be impacted and that must be considered when optimising for the future of search:

PPC: Logic suggests that with the introduction of more information onto the SERP that the number of paid links will be reduced. But then they are the main income source of the page, so will they? I think the likely hood is that the number will be reduced to 6-8 listings per page (as with the new ask.com pages), enough to free up some inventory but not significantly reduce earnings. In fact, this sort of reduction could drive up the price of first page exposure as everyone clambers for prime position so there may be no reduction in revenues at all. This could mean advertisers see a drop off in traffic as the page the are appearing on begins to drop, and a rise in costs as they fight to achieve exposure.

Dependant on the positioning of the paid listings in the page there could also be changes in click through rate. If you are adding in additional elements into the does this mean the clicks are diluted between them? I would suggest this is down how the information is arranged and the prominence each is given.

SEO: Again there could be a drop in the number of natural listings which appear in the SERP as additional inventory is introduced. This makes the importance of front page exposure even more valuable and harder to come by!

There may also be a reduction in the text which is displayed for each result in order to fit in more listings. If this is the case it would become extremely important to ensure that title tags are not only targeted to the keyword but are enticing to the user.

Additional Products: With the addition of “other” results into the SERP it will become increasingly important to take a holistic approach and incorporate all of them into an effective search campaign. Image search, maps, product feeds, book listings, will all become important sources of traffic as their prominence and exposure increases.

There is a big win to be had for the advertiser which embraces the changing face of search and optimises for all elements of the page. Rather than a threat to each individual element this should be seen as an opportunity for front page exposure on numerous fronts. The companies/advertisers which adapt with the SERP will prosper, those that don’t will be left wondering where all the traffic went!

The undoubted arrival of personalised search restults and the convergence of different medias as described below with google universal search are going to make things a little complicated moving forward!

Optimising your website for the search engines is one thing, but judging and allowing for the impact of all different forms of media is another. maps, images, videos, retail listings, definitions, reviews, they are all going to become part of a SERP in the future and in order to fully make the most of “search” you will need a presence in as many as possible.

On top of this you have the advent of personalisation which is going to mean one individual could see completely different search results from the next! How do you optimise for this? In theory if you have a well optimised and targetted site you should be ok, because you generate the interest in the first place and so “stick” in the results for that person. If this is the case then it will mean a well optimised site holds more benefits for a much longer period of time.

A shaks up is one the cards!

Optimizing Content for Universal Search
By Claudia Bruemmer (c) 2007
By now, you’ve all heard about Google’s new Universal Search concept, which combines all the information within its vertical databases into one index to serve a single set of Web search results. As you can imagine, this will require some adjustments to standard search engine optimization techniques. If you have been following the Bruce Clay methodology, then you should already be on the right track to optimizing every aspect of your Web site that is under your control. With the arrival of universal search, it’s not just a good idea; it’s a necessity.
Google Vice President of Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer said the company’s goal for universal search is to create “a seamless, integrated experience to get users the best answers.” Mayer stated on the official Google blog that the universal search vision would be “one of the biggest architectural, ranking, and interface challenges” the search engine would face.
Mayer first suggested this concept to Google back in 2001. Since then, the company has been building the infrastructure, algorithms and presentation mechanisms needed to blend the different content from Images, Video, News, Maps, Blogs et al into its Web results. This is Google’s first step toward removing the partition that separates its numerous search silos, integrating these vast repositories of information into a universal set of search results. The object is to make queries more relevant for users, but what are the ramifications for SEO?
Google Relevancy Challenge
Based on industry research, Google has a relevancy problem because the database is too vast. Back in 2005, Jupiter Research touched on this, stating it identified an opportuníty for vertical search engines. The study inferred that general search engines were good at classifying vast amounts of information, but not very good at serving results that helped users make decisions.
A year later, Outsell came out with “Vertical Search Delivers What Big Search Engines Miss,” a study that also mentioned the opportuníty for vertical search due to dissatisfaction with general search engines. This report published the oft-quoted fact stating that the average Internet search failure rate is 31.9 percent. The study identified two market trends contributing to the growth of vertical search – failed general searches and rising keyword prices in paid search.
Another noteworthy study was conducted by Convera. Over 1,000 online business users were asked about their search practices, successes, and failures. Only 21 percent of the respondents thought that search queries on general search engines were understood, a mere 10 percent found critical information on the first try in general search engines. This study concluded, “To date, professionals have not been adequately served by consumer search engines.”
The results of these studies show that Google and other general search engines are challenged to produce relevant results, suggesting vertical and niche search engines could eliminate such problems because the niche databases contain topic-specific information, serving targeted, more relevant answers to user queries.
Google’s Solution to Relevancy
Since Google’s move toward universal search, one can only assume it has considered the above problems and decided that pulling all its databases together, comparing and ranking them accurately at warp speed, could be the solution to relevancy. Doing this requires new technical infrastructure, including new algorithms, software and hardware, which Google has been working on since 2001 and is now in the process of implementing. Universal search has implications for search marketers because it is a departure from the uniformity that characterized search marketing in the past, requiring adjustments in SEO methodology. Since the modifications will be implemented in steps, immediate changes in the SERPS won’t be obvious, and there is time to develop new optimization strategies.
Search Personalization
In addition to universal search, Google is also focusing on personalization in the SERPs. This means users will be seeing different SERPS based on their previous queries, if signed into their Google accounts. Users may or may not notice many changes in the SERPs due to universal search and personalization, depending on their level of sophistication and/or powers of observation. However, marketers will be scrambling. Marketers will need to get their clients listed into as many niche databases as possible to íncrease the breadth of coverage for universal search. Social media optimization techniques can be used to enhance both universal and personalized search results.
Universal Search Optimization Strategies
The focus on personalization and universal search requires more emphasis on social media SEO strategies because of user interest in creating content and the vast amounts of new multimedia content created daily on the Web. Marketers are beginning to drive traffíc via social networking sites, and these efforts are known to enhance search engine optimization campaigns. Strategies include creating multimedia content such as blogs, videos and podcasts, and then getting them listed on social search sites like Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon, as well as niche search engines like Technorati, Podzinger and Blinx.
When creating multimedia content, you must ensure that it is tagged and cataloged correctly. Multimedia content is optimized through established fundamental SEO techniques, such as creating keyword-rich, user-friendly content, unique Meta tags, good site navigation and structure, and implementing a successful linking strategy. Below are a few suggestions for creating and submitting multimedia content for several of Google’s vertical databases to gain extended reach through universal search.
Google Image Search: It has always been a good idea to use images on your site for illustrating your products and services. Now, this becomes a way for your customers to find your site via Google Image Search. Optimize your images with descriptive, keyword-rich file names and ALT tags. Use accurate descriptions of your image files for the benefit of the vision impaired and others who might need to view the site with text only.
Google Video (beta): As with optimizing images, use descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your video files. Also create a keyword-rich title tag, description tag, and video site map. Create a Web page to launch your video, optimizing content for SEO and using anchor text wherever possible. Besides submitting to Google Video, also include Blinkx and other social networking and search sites like YouTube and Podzinger (audio and video search engine).
Google News: Here’s where you can submit your press releases for display as “news” and subsequent indexing. Issue press releases containing current information about new products and events your site is involved with and Google News will likely pick it up.
Google Maps: This is also known as Google Local, a vertical that has been included in Google search results for a while. Give your site a local presence through the Google Maps Local Business Center where local businesses can get a frëe basic listing to extend their reach in the SERPs.
Google Blog Search (beta): You all have a corporate blog, right? This is how modern companies communicate with their customers and stakeholders. Tag it (digg, del.icio.us, stumbleupon, etc.), submit to Google Blog search, and extend your reach for Web searches on Google.
In closing, there are many ways social and multimedia content can enhance your SEO efforts. Experiment and learn how to use social media to extend your SEO rankings. As you become aware of the many niche databases for submitting multimedia content, this can go a long way toward gaining visibility through Google’s personalized and universal search.