Google Webmaster Tools appears to have been updated to include other forms of content good for Google's Universal Search, such as Video (and podcasts, by extension), mostly focusing on Metadata, according to Web Analytics World Blog:

 "…Video Sitemaps

The Sitemaps protocol has been extended to support video. You can now include URLs to videos, as well as meta data about those URLs. Google uses Video Sitemaps for their Google Video index, although with universal search, those videos may appear in web search results as well."

 

If Google is adding and ranking Online Videos, Google Images and Podcasts along with textual Search Results, it makes sense to me there should be diagnostics for that to help the site owner optimize their content - whatever form it's in. 

Earlier this month a friend, Amy Crehore, was telling me she was getting traffic from her images, Google Image Search traffic, that she never had before.  I mentioned that Google probably changed something - as she didn't change anything on her site(s).

Now we know what was changed - Google Starts to Index Images Uploaded to Blogger - in a post on Google Operating System blog:

Even if this sounds hard to believe, Google Image Search started to index images uploaded to Blogger in December 2007. Until this month, all the images were prevented from being indexed by search engines for unknown reasons. This move is closely related to the fact that the images hosted at Picasa Web Albums started to be indexed by Google.

The chart from Google Analytics shows the number of referrals from images.google.com for this blog:

I haven't noticed anything in particular on my blogs - but I haven't looked closely either. 

Google added a new feature to Google Image Search with Related Queries that works for a few broad image searches like “army” and “president” but to yet, for most queries.  I read about it in Related Queries in Google Image Search , in Google Operating System.

I think related searches will be helpful for searches once it’s more available on queries that are so broad, but still might benefit (though there are political implications). 

For example, what if I typed in “artist” and Google Image Search said “try Van Gogh” – would that be saying that Google thinks Van Gogh is the most important Artist?

In this case, anything that Google rolls out, like a improvement in related search, needs to be though about first – so it doesn’t come off as too “big brother-ish”.

When I write a post that I hope will be read a lot, about the last thing I want is to have it appear on the bottom of the first page of Google, for that search term, as a blog result.  I've noticed that sometimes this happens and sometimes, it doesn't - but more likely, if the query I'm writing a post about is about a popular current event, then I'll end you having my post appear briefly at the bottom of the first page as a blog.

Yet at other times, my post will appear as a static page, often near the top of the search results - which is much, much better, as far as I'm concerned.   I realize what Google is trying to do by including blogs in current events, but the problem is a page that's treated by Google as a blog post doesn't stay around in Google's Search Results very long, (it drops quickly) while a static page, doesen't (there must be a different criteria being applied against content).

Today, Matthew Hurst is also saying that what Google is doing by treating the same content as blog in one moment/context, and a static page, at another moment/context is bad interface design - and Matthew Hurst calls Google's Universal Search - Confused? in today's post.

"…One of the maxims of interface design is predictability. An interface shouldn't change from under you. A search now for 'Santiago Fire' doesn't produce blog results. A search for 'Gordon Brown' produces, at the top of the list, first images of the man himself, then news articles then organic results. Actually - it does if I do the search on IE6, but not if I do the search on Firefox (Japanese). "

"..In addition to the lack of predictability in the results page, one can't page through the mixed results. The first page offers the interlaced results, but going to the next page only offers organic results.

I think it is great that Google is addressing the interface problem - the web is so much more than a bland list of pages. However, the current approach seems more confusing than, say, Ask's 3D layout (though I notice that that is shifting over time too…)".

Sometimes, people "overreach" and so do companies, even Google.  In trying to solve one problem, the created others.   Now you have a lot more content you can optimize, not just textual, but other other hand, the way the results stream out on the first page are often "unpredictable".   Is that a good thing?

Apparently not - at least, not according to Matthew Hurst; and not according to me, either, since I'd rather not have my content be classified as a static web page, not a blog post - but that's just me.

Social Media and Search is the subject of two posts by well respected bloggers at TopRank and Converseon.  In The Power of Social Media in Search, Converseon' Rob Key:

"..When we talk about social search strategies, we advocate content optimization in various forms – text, audio and video – across different platforms. This is especially important in the wake of Google’s Universal Search initiative. We know that social media is becoming increasingly visible in top search rankings."

So True.

"…The Second Chance Trees project is an incredibly interesting case in point. To promote individuals to vote for the project in the American Express Members Project, we created a machinima video and uploaded it to YouTube only 4 days ago. The initiative has really taken a life of its own with many bloggers (thank you!) embracing the concept and linking to the video."

Here's the Second Chance Trees video - it's a viral campaign done right and guess what? 

In a couple of days, there's now over 5 million pages in Google's index for "Second Chance Trees".  I know I'll go and plant a tree.  According to Rob Key:

"..Today, the listing went from nowhere to number 2 for the “American Express Members Project” (out of more than 4 million indexed pages) in just four days, outranking even the Scorcese advertisement. If there is ever a need to demonstrate the power of social media to impact top rankings rapidly, one need look no further."

In the same way, and helping the effort Indexed by Google in an Hour posted by TopRank's Lee Odden, talks about the "Toprank Challenge":

"..After reading Rob’s email I posted about the TopRank Challenge and shortly afterwards received a Google Alert email notifying me the TopRank Challenge post had entered the index. I did a search for “TopRank challenge” on Google and sure enough, Online Marketing Blog was #1 with the phrase “TopRank Challenge” in bold within an hour. The same thing happened with the post on “holistic SEO” yesterday."

Personally, these are not the terms I'm targeting - I'd go after something a little harder, like "free energy" or "clean energy" …those are much harder terms to get on the top for …but I bet it's possible to achieve that.

Social Media Search Strategies work - no question of it … but they don't work for all blogs….you need to start with a blog that is "trusted" and popular enough, to begin with.  In fact, the way I'd approach this is to take the same query and try getting on the top with a popular, well known blog AND an relatively unknown, or new blog. 

If someone can get to the top quickly with a new blog that has few backlinks - now, that would be something. 

Before going on to the next thing you will read, help make Social Media Search mean something … donate $1.50 USD to get a tree planted in Second Life and here on earth…our earth.

Honestly, the news of Google reducing the amount of Search and Web History they're keeping on everyone that has a Google account going down by 25% (6 months) should be good news - but I'm more or less indifferent to it - because the fundamental issue of why they're collecting this data has not been dealt with.

"……

Tuesday, Google announced that it would reduce the records of search histories from 24 months to 18 months.  Google has been pressured by many privacy activists for a reduction. The information which Google shares on search trends, yet keeps personal information private, will be made anonymous after a year and a half.

“We looked at what other companies in the industry do, and we were not able to find explicit and clear privacy policies,” said Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel. “Retention of logs data is critical to our ability to operate and improve our services and to provide adequate security for our users,” he continued.

The new policy came only days after a poor rating from Privacy International was released with Google being the lowest rated of all major Internet properties. “We were disappointed with the report because it is full of numerous inaccuracies,” said Fleischer."

I agree - there needs to be better Privacy Rules and I don't think they're in place yet. 

Catching up on some interesting developments this week - had less time this week due to some product launches and just - exhaustion.

Anyway, this week, Google launched Universal Search - or at least, the framework for it.  I read a review by Alex Iskold at Read/WriteWeb and am about to weigh in on this - though I'll probably refine my opinions as time goes on and interact with Google's latest search changes.   Alex points out that "..Google does a parallel search across multiple verticals and instantly aggregates the results" and …that "..it  is not difficult to conceive of, but it certainly is quite difficult to implement".

"…Google rolled out more than an aggregator for verticals. What we are seeing is a hybrid approach - tackling vertical search using knowledge of semantics (i.e. understanding the subject), co-occurrence (clustering) and time. It is also clear that these dimensions are only some of the possible slices that Google can execute."

Ok, for 98% of all searchers - this is probably enough - most people, I believe, would rather stick with what they know (BRAND) where they get good results (even if they are not perfect) then go to a specific vertical Search Engine.

"…So where does this leave us and what is the score now in Google vs The Others? It appears that Google has executed a major blow to the entire competitive search market and some specialized competitors. Why? Because Google just showed that they care about vertical search, they can do it well and, most importantly, they have an algorithm that generalizes the vertical search."

So…it's all about time…. isn't it?   Think about it.  Most laptops and desktops run a version of Microsoft Windows - with a small percentage of Linux users and then, if you want something else, you buy a Mac.  Right?

Microsoft will never lose the overall market - just as Google will never lose the overall Search Market …… there's no use for a company to fight it … the war is over.   Google will only continue to grow bigger and even more powerful and totally dominate Search for the foreseeable future.   

That means that Yahoo and Microsoft might as well give up on their Search Engines - they'll never be able to catch up …. and the verticals will be fine, as long as they service small, niche audiences that are the 1%-2% that want something more than what Google offers to the 98% of the rest of us. 

Still, that leaves open the questions as to what happens to PPC platforms that run on Yahoo and Microsoft (Panama and AdCenter) - what happens to them?   I don't see either Yahoo and Live going away anytime soon but I do think neither will ever gain enough marketshare to be truly profitable.  Still, it's important to have an alternative (ie: you don't have to send your mail via the US Post Office - you can use FedEX or UPS to send all your mail if you really wanted to..but it will cost you!).  Ok, my Post Office example is poor - let me try to improve it. 

Let's say, that the Post Office represents Google and UPS is Microsoft Live - it would still do OK - with certain kinds of packages - not so much you regular letter - but a package ….. or a refrigerator …your not going to want to send that by the Post Office.

Alex concludes with:

"..It appears that Universal search delivers a major blow to the entire vertical search space. We have argued for a while that innovative/better technologies will have a difficult time competing against Google's algorithm. And now the verticals are threatened by Universal Search. Since UI improvements are also difficult, because not all consumers respond to them well, it appears that Google's latest move has solidified its position as the search king."

I know, it's more complex issue - and Read/WriteWeb also pointed out that:

"..Nitin Karandikar ..notes that "the best Vertical Search engines do a lot more than simply offering search results limited to a given domain; often, they provide specialized UI paradigms, domain-specific parameters, communities, partnerships within the domain, related services, and so on. Until Google can start focusing on these additional strengths (and I'm guessing they will stick to some key domains for the foreseeable future, like jobs, real estate and travel), VSEs will continue to dominate specific domains. As an example, Zillow and Trulia provide results and services in real estate that go far beyond simply finding relevant web documents."

But that just reinforces my point - in time - Google will focus on domains beyond Jobs, Real Estate, Travel, etc.   Sure, the audience on Vertical Search Engines is more specialized - and that makes it easier to reach a specific market - just go after the searches who use that vertical. 

And that gets into a different issue - how to you optimize search for a search result that becomes more and more individualized - based on the query and who the searcher is (because Google has your Search History and Web History and is using it to disambiguate your search).

The whole field of Search Marketing is about to go though another transformation - but all that is being driven by how fast Google can implement changes while Yahoo and Microsoft Live can do little else than follow after Google.

Ok, enough for one post.