I know it’s a stretch but I can’t get that Buggles song out of my head. So what does that have to do with Google and Universal Search? Well, everything.
As you can see above, a search for “Video Killed The Radio Star” (and it did BTW), not only has the the old Google navigation changed but video results are showing up right in the regular results. In fact, if you click that plus sign the video opens up right in the SERP results from YouTube. This is great, if you’re Google and you own Youtube, but what about other video websites who may not get a click through? So far, content from video sites like MetaCafe are showing up as previews but is this fair use? Barry Schwartz has this:
So it appears that Google is kind of acting like a meta video search engine. At this point, it is unclear if Metacafe has an issue with this. We are checking with Google for comment on this. We are also going to ask Google if they can provide a full list of video sites now showing up in Google Video as well as Universal Search with thumbnails. (source)
Also, notice that the “related results” are also served in the middle by default now too. So, this is great for the user right? On its face yes?
The universal search model, currently in its nascent stages, will present search results in a much more integrated manner than before. Depending on what users search for, the results page could feature sections with images, video, links to book content, maps or local business listings. (source)
One stop shopping. How can that not be good? If you do a lot of Googling on similar topics or genres you’ll see that the way Google lays out the results can be vastly different. That is, some searches may have 2 videos at the top and others will have 3 news stories at the top. And users, being users, will assume that the info at the top is the most important. How could it not be? Google says it and it’s so, right? So although it’s universal, it’s still a search engine that can be misinterpreted, misconstrued and misunderstood; not to mentioned - gamed.
In short, Google Universal Search doesn’t yet exhibit its universality in any particularly predictable fashion that I can discern. (source)
So the new Google may or may not be universal, the user experience may or may not be any richer, and there were “7 no 8 people and a pussy cat in that room…”. So what does this mean for the SEM firm?
Well, assuming you have been diligently optimizing all your digital assets, and adding accesibility to your websites and optimizing for verticals, you’re going to enjoy the fruits of your labors with masses of qualified traffic and ROI. If not, well you’ve got some reading to do.
The technology is brand new and I’m sure that ‘GUS’ will have some growing pains so I’m interested to see how it all works out over the coming months. Incidentally, our printer died yesterday and before you could say PC Load Letter, we had this image in all of our in boxes. Thank you Google Universal Search. You are my go-to engine for finding ways to not do work.
Loading ...
