Time to Optimize for Google's new Universal Search

Unless you have been away from your computer for the last few weeks, you know about Google's new universal search (or at the very least, you have seen it in action). According to Marissa Mayer, who is the Vice President of Search Products and User Experience for Google, the company envisions universal search as a way to create "a seamless, integrated experience to get users the best answers." Because Google is very focused on the experience of their users, they want to make the SERP pages as relevant as possible. In a Web 2.0 world, internet users place just as much value in videos, images and other mediums as they do traditional web sites. Although some internet marketers may be slightly intimidated by the idea of universal search, it can actually be a great way to gain new sources of traffic. Here are a handful of tips for optimizing to get the most traffic from Google's Universal Search:



Blogs: Since many companies use blogs in addition to their web sites as a way to connect with visitors, it is important to make your blog as visible as possible. In order to make sure that your blog ranks as well as possible for relevant keywords, be sure to ping Google's new blog search. Additionally, you should take advantage of web sites with a social angle (such as Del.icio.us and Stumbleupon).

Google Maps: Simply put, take the time to submit your company to Google's Local Business Center. This is an easy, free way to gain some additional exposure for your business.

Images: If you have optimized images on your web site, you have probably already received some traffic from Google Images. However, now that Google is adding images to their main search pages, you can really harness the power of this traffic.

There are a few steps that you can take to ensure your images are optimized. Although they are very easy, they are often overlooked. In addition to placing a few relevant keywords in the ALT tag and giving your picture a descriptive filename, you should also try to place your image in a spot on your web site that is close to the keywords that describe it.


Videos: Optimizing videos for Universal Search is pretty similar to optimizing images. In addition to giving your video a descriptive file name, you should also submit it multiple social video web sites. When you do submit it to these web sites, be sure to tag it with relevant, descriptive keywords.