Universal Search refers to the many ways your website can dominate the search results.
Most people think of Search Results as starting and ending with being the #1 result for a Google search result page. We call this SERP, or Google Search Result Position, and it is certainly the goal to keep in mind when designing and executing an SEO strategy.
However, there are more aspects to Search Results than just the SERP.
- Local Search / Google Maps
Many searches - especially if they include a geographic location - will result in a Google mini-map above the regular results, with 10 local results listed and marked by push-pin icons on the map. If you're on the map, you appear on the map listing which ranks above the regular results!
More info on Local / Map Results coming soon...
- Video Search Results
Video pages (such as YouTube or MetaCafe - but also on your own site) are ranked well by Google. This is because people like to watch videos, and Google is trying to give searchers what they want. It doesn't hurt that Google owns YouTube...
More info on Video Search Results coming soon...
- Image Search Results
Searches for terms in certain categories tend to turn up a lot of images. If you post properly tagged images, your page can be among these results. In addition, Google has a separate section for Image searches, and ranking well there is another way to drive traffic to your site.
More info on Image Search Results coming soon...
- News Search Results
Google News is a subset of search that millions of decision-makersturn to on a daily basis. Your site may not be syndicated by Google News (although if it is, explout that to the max!) but other blogs are and they can guest host you or post about you. Press Releases are another good way to infiltrate the news feed sources.
More info on News Search Results coming soon...
- Product Search Results
This one is mostly for e-commerce sites that sell products. If that describes you, you need to post your products on shopping sites like BizRate and Ebay. GoogleBase is also an important and often overlooked way to get Google to feature your product - and this can apply to other categories as well, such as Real Estate listings.
More info on Product Search Results coming soon...
- Blog Search
Google is supposed to be including blogs in their generakl search result any day now. In the meantime, Google is not the only game in town - make sure your blog is on Technorati and other blog aggregators and raters. Don't forget that content created for blogs can be repurposed for other forms of content like web pages, articles, and press releases.
More info on Blog Search Results coming soon...
Contact us for more information about Universal Search as a way to maximize your website's potential as a business and revenue driver.
Get Searched. Get Results.
