Google 2.0 Universal Search: What is it and is it Helping You?

Universal Search is the fusion of several different search platforms such as news, video, local, and images. Google rolled this out 5/16/2007 by integrating content from images, maps, books, videos, and news search results. Google's new navigation implemented at the same time improves vertical search. The problem being, as it always been, people do not understand the need nor purpose of the vertical search opportunities displayed for them. Lets take a second and explain vertical and regular search.

Regular or Horizontal search is when a user types a query
in the search field and pushes the button. The results are a vast array of possibly partially relevant sites depending on the number of terms in the search query.

Vertical search is focused vertically down in a specific area for more relevant results. Like taking advantage of the Google News Search vs. Regular search.

Universal Search presents many opportunities for topic normally less travelled by the average user in vertical search to be available in regular search. Thus giving the average user vertical search power that has been escaping them for many years. Google says this:

Sadly, many people are unaware of the vertical search resources that are out
there. Indeed, Google has long put links to its vertical search services above
the search box on its home page. First they were in the form of "tabs," then
later as regular links that currently promote that you can vertically search for
images, or video, or news, or maps or in many more specialized areas.

I don't think it would be pertinent to implement all available vertical search options into Universal Search, but Google chose a highly usable selection.

What does all this mean to the webmasters? Well there are 2 sides to that story. Firstly, some sites will gain exposure, as they will now more easily be picked with narrow search terms. Some will gain exposure by referencing their sites by other means and using the new results to provide more opportunities to have their sites accessed like installing a map, or signing up for image search. The other side of the coin is that sites already performing well will see and increase in competition, and possible decreases in rank and traffic alike.

I believe this is a positive step for Google and should your site take a hit then simply advance your market reach into the new blended search areas and you should be able to recover nicely. Now if we could just get Google to take contextual search a little more seriously.

Peace and SEO

Baby

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