Google Universal Search: Rendering #1 Useless Since 2007
In the endless pursuit of relevant results, Google has unleashed Universal Search. The new functionality mashes standard web search with image, news, product, local and video search all on one page.

According to Search Engine Land, not everyone will see it at first, but it should be more widely implemented for English-speaking search results over the next few days. Barry Schwartz provides a nice test drive.

So what does this mean for searchers and search marketers? Let’s break this down into how this affects both paid and organic search:

For the organic searcher: For more popular and newsworthy keywords, your process will be impacted…obviously. This is also the case for local search, and it will be solely dependent on popularity/demand of the keyword phrase. That means that more instances will occur on product level searches where the SERP may not reflect the intent of the searcher.

IMO, I think we will see more people either changing their SE settings to increase the number of results per page or increased impressions on Google SERP’s two and three (hence the title of this post).

For the SEO: Depending on your keyword set, you could be in for some potential tough times. If I was optimizing for auto parts, then my job just became one position more difficult as the news results are now in the #10 slot.

However, if you are optimizing your site correctly, then I’m convinced that the sky is not falling. The truth of the matter is that in most cases, you won’t be affected. If you look at most eCommerce-related searches, you’ll have a hard time finding major changes.

But you very well might see a change on Click-through rates on organic results.

If we use ipod as the search example, then you’ll see that the new filters (i.e. Web, Patents, Products, News) attract more attention to the #1 PAID result (hat tip, Jon Revill). And in addition, if someone clicks on the “Products” filter (which couldn’t be any higher up on the page), then you enter Google Product Search, which is PPC.

For the Sponsored Ad Searcher: The chance of fewer user-relevant results on a page will almost certainly increase the demand for paid search on respective terms. IMO, you can also expect for impressions and click-throughs on page-two, sponsored listings to increase.

For the Paid Search Analysts: Expect lower ROAS and more aggressive bid strategies on top-tier terms. Additionally, you can expect an increase in the use of Google Product Search.

Overall, I think the new system has a very good chance of being successful. Most search engine users are loyal to their favorite, and I think they will adapt to the new format.

Labels: Google Universal Search

Jeremy | permalink | +marktd |