Universal Search is a feature that Google has been implementing gradually for the past couple of years.
Basically, it’s where Google adds extra stuff to the search results. This could be images (from Google Image Search), news stories or press releases (from Google News), videos (from Youtube) or local search results (from Google Local and Google Maps).
Check out this search for Britney Spears, which shows LOTS of Universal Search!
Here, you can see the news results appear right at the top. Google loves to show the most recent and relevant info first, and it thinks that breaking news is some of the best info out there. They also feature photos and videos highly too, as previous search history has told Google that photos and videos are often related to the search for “britney spears.”
What Does This Mean For Me?
You might think “so what” but Universal Search can often be a great short-cut to Google’s page 1!
Google only features the Universal Search elements on page 1, so if you can find a way into those you jump right ahead of ALL the other results!
Try searching around to see if Google is adding Universal Search elements in YOUR market. If it is, you know that you stand a good chance of jumping right onto that page 1 spot with minimum effort!
Note: The Universal Search videos, images, news stories etc won’t link searchers straight to your site BUT they will still see your content or details about your business and will hopefully click through to your site too!
How Do I Do It?
To get yourself into Universal Search, first see what Google is showing on the search results page, then decide what similar content you have. Then follow these instructions:
- Images: Make sure all the relevant images on your website are named something sensible that describes the image (e.g. “sony-bravia-kdl46xbr8.jpg”) and consider putting all images on your site into an “images” folder on your webserver. Also, upload your best images to Flickr.com and make sure you “tag” your image with all the keywords that might be appropriate (e.g. “sony” “bravia” “tv” “kdl46xbr8″ “black” “46 inch” etc.)
- Video: Upload your video(s) to Youtube.com and link to them from your site (or embed them on your pages if you can). Again, make sure your videos are “tagged” correctly with ALL the relevant keywords. If you haven’t got any videos, you can easily make one of you talking into a webcam about the product, or taking a video of your screen showing info on the product on your website.
- News: This is more tricky, but can be done! Consider submitting a press release using a service like PRWeb. This is a paid service, but definitely the most effective. There are also numerous free press release submission services but these aren’t particularly effective at getting into Google News and Universal Search.
- Local Services: Google Local maps show up in search results when people search for services in a particular place (e.g. “Dentist Manhattan”). Getting into Google Local is easy and free, just go here and fill out your details. This will only work for businesses where location is relevant (doctors, mechanics, restaurants, etc) but if that describes you then get listed on Google Local NOW!
With all Universal Search elements (except Local) Google definitely values the most RECENT media the most. So if someone uploads a new video to Youtube with the same name and keywords as yours, you might find yourself bumped out of the Universal Search results.
What can you do? Just upload new videos/images/press releases of course! They don’t even have to be particularly different. Perhaps a new product shot, or a video with a new intro or extra piece added to the end.
I hope this has given you a good introduction to Google’s Universal Search and how it can help you get to page 1 quicker than you ever thought possible! There’s lots more to learn, and I’ll be covering that in later posts.
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!
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