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Benefits of Universal Search

by Adriana Iordan

This article is the first of a series of three, trying to help you better understand what Universal Search is and how it can affect the search engine optimization process, and pay per click campaigns. Every article of the series will focus on one of these subjects:
• the first will try to explain what Universal Search is, which are the benefits and the downsides and also, how it differs from the classical search, also called vertical search;
• the second article's main subject will be the impact of Universal Search on the search engine optimization process;
• the third article will try to present it's influence on the pay per click campaign.
The reason we decided to write a series of three articles having as main subject universal search and its impact, stands in the major changes Universal Search will bring to the universe of internet search. Therefore, we consider the information found in these series to be essential in order to adapt well to all the new characteristics of web search.

What is Universal Search?

Starting with May 2007, Google developed a new type of internet searching which became known as Universal Search . This means that now, when you use Google to search for something, you won't find only text results. Instead, the results found by the search engine will bring you different types of media, including pictures and videos.

This type of search is used now also, by other search engines, such as Yahoo, MSN, or Ask.

Benefits of Universal Search

This new type of search has several advantages for users, such as:
• More helpful information for the user: by receiving many types of results,(pictures, videos, text), users will have a better general view on what they were looking for;
• By using only one keyword or phrase, and not mentioning the type of media the users are looking for, the results will cover everything;
• Bigger possibility of finding the answer you are searching for faster, after performing only one search;
• By including video results, Universal Search helps those interested in watching internet videos find them faster. Adding well tagged videos to your site could prove to be a very good idea for both your business and for obtaining better ranks through Universal Search;
• Image results also come in handy for most users, since, it is a well known fact that a picture means more than a thousand words; therefore, thanks to this new feature of web search, both the ones performing the search and site owners can benefit: instead of wondering which result is the one you are searching, by looking at an image you will know for sure; providers will be found faster just by their customers or by adding relevant pictures to their sites;
• Since Universal Search includes also news, press releases published on a site could enhance that site's ranking.
• Last, but not least, Universal Search will increase also the importance of blogs, since they will now help the site get better result page ranks.

Read more at: http://www.avangate.com/articles/universal-search-102.htm

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