Google’s May 16th press release explains that their new Universal Search will begin providing a “more integrated and comprehensive way to search for and view information online,” because the Google results will now include online news, books, video, maps, and other online databases, in addition to Web pages. Results from all these sources will be mixed with the traditional Web page results.
Bottom line: Now that more sources will be included in Google results, it’s now more important than ever to optimize your pages and your other content. If you were skating by before, you may find that news and video results will push your Web site’s rank down. Your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy must include optimizing not just Web pages, but also video, books, news, and other content you have online.
So what?
- If you’re a Google user, you’ll begin to see changes now, and more over the next few weeks, incorporating additional types of content in your search results.
- If you’re interested in search engine optimization, I recommend you read SEO guru Danny Sullivan’s good explanation of the implications of Google’s Universal Search on SEO.
