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Over the past couple years it has been impossible to avoid the buzz about images and their increasing role in search; such as universal search which is becoming commonplace among the major search engines. But universal search is only the most prevalent news and only the baby-steps of a new format of search that is about to take over the Internet. Do I have your interest piqued? I will now lay the foundation of my statement to hopefully get you as excited as I am about this unstoppable search evolution.
Evidence 1) Photosynth
If you have any technology mavens as friends it is likely you saw this incredible video presented by Microsoft at the TED conference last year discussing Photosynth. To quote Microsoft Lab’s Photosynth home page this software
“takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next. In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor.”
My jaw still hurts from hitting the ground after my first viewing of Photosynth many months ago. This software made a massive impression on me that has led me to many interesting ideas on the applications for this software; I will leave these thoughts to another time. For now, however, lets just say that the advent of a technology such as Photosynth provided a first glimpse into how images on the web can play a far greater role than ever imagined.

Evidence 2) PicLens by cooliris
PicLens is a fantastic plugin that allows searchers to navigate a 3d gallery of images associated with the topic they are searching. The user can also surf related images by simply clicking on a small play icon that appears on images anywhere in their browser (the icon appears on the image when the user’s mouse hovers over it for a moment). So where does PicLens get its content from? PicLens has complete access to the image caches of: Google, Yahoo, Flickr, SmugMug, Photobucket and DeviantArt.

This free, incredibly useful software is available now and it represents a new way for the masses to think about search; instead of showing information in a ranking format, PicLens makes browsing images as simple as a flick of your mouse (momentum will actually allow the images to move by). Right now PicLens is naturally designed for images but who says it needs to stay that way?

Evidence 3) SearchMe
When my colleague showed me the preview of SearchMe I knew I had the linchpin for this very article. SearchMe is a new search engine in private Beta at the moment but this next generation search engine has finally married image search in a manner that will get many tongues wagging.

As this video outlines in detail SearchMe allows searchers to type in a search and then define the intended topic of their search in order to provide the most relevant results. Once the user selects their topic they are provided with a slick but simple page showing pictures of each resulting web page that can be scanned through in a manner similar to PicLens.

Now these are not images in a classic sense, since they are actually just screenshots of the existing web pages, however, the technology is extremely similar and it seems natural that the final version of SearchMe’s image search option would utilize the same technology.

Tying it all Together
What is the one thing that all of these concepts have in common? The answer is marvelously simple; they all focus on the simple concept that a picture is worth a thousand words. Why show a snippet of content in a search engine result page when a complete image could say so much more about the destination?

Are You Excited Yet?
So are we on the same page now? Are you as fascinated as I am with the next generation of search? If not, you had better get on board quickly; there is no doubt in my mind that image-based searching is the natural evolution of search. Don’t get me wrong, on page content will still play a large role in algorithms but the days of top 10 results are numbered.

What Will this Mean to SEO?
Basically a few existing elements of search engine optimization will become more important:

1. Web pages will have to be designed with a tighter focus on usability and simplicity for screenshots to appear interesting/relevant enough to click on.
2. Images will always need to be appropriately tagged and described.
3. Web site images will have to be picked with more care from stock photography sites in order to capture the eyes of image-surfing prospects.
4. SEOs will find it useful to include sales-oriented information in images but not at the expense of the image.
5. Content around images and the overall page text must be extremely relevant to the image and the description and tags that are attributed to it.
In short, the evolution of search will continue to do what it has always done; make us all work harder to provide better quality content. One thing is for certain… the evolution of search just makes search engine optimization services interesting and necessary in order to maintain search success in multiple search environments.

What is Universal Search and Why Should You Care?

Universal Search combines all the information within its Vertical engines/databases into one index to serve a single set of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

An example of Vertical engines/databases are Google News, Google Video, Google Images etc.

What this means is when you go to www.google.com, (their most highly trafficked domain) and do a search, rather than just getting websites from their main index, you will also get results from the News, Images, Video, etc databases as well. It is a more comprehensive results page.

Google Vice President of Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer said the company’s goal for universal search is to create “a seamless, integrated experience to get users the best answers.”

Sometimes the information you are looking for is best delivered by video, or images or a news story. Currently, you would have to search each of the Vertical engines/databases to get all the information. Google is planning to integrate it into one search engine.

As a searcher this means easier access to various forms of information with only one search. It seems like a good thing, as long as the results are easily organized on the page. It could mean more scrolling to get to the different areas of results, depending how they lay it out.

What To Do and Why

Changes with the search engines can sometimes be confusing. There is a lot of information to evaluate and some decisions to be made. Before you decide anything, you need to understand what your options are.

If your site isn’t already properly optimized for organic rankings, that would be the place to start. You want to make sure you have clean, search engine friendly code and a solid foundation, as well as on-page optimization. This would be the starting point, without this in place you have no hope of competing in the engines – with or without Universal Search.

If your site is already properly and aggressively optimized, then you are in good shape to build on that and benefit from Universal Search.

Since Universal Search will take information from the Verticals (like images, press releases, videos, audios, Blog postings, etc) you want to make sure that you have some exposure in each of those areas.

Imagine someone does a search for what you have to offer, and in the Universal Search results your webpage comes up. In the same search your competitor’s site comes up PLUS your competitor has video, images and Blog posts as well. A searcher is more likely to click on your competitor’s site since more of the total number of results that come up will belong to your competitor.

The other factor is the layout of the results page. We don’t know yet how it will play out. If Google mixes all the results together (ex: videos, web pages, Blog posts, images, etc all come up intermingled) that creates one scenario. It means you aren’t competing apples to apples for the top spot. It could be video in the 1st position and you are hoping to get your web pages ranked in the 1st position.

Another way of delivering the results would be to group them by category. They could líst all the Blog results, then all the video results under that, and then all the image results under that, etc.

If that is the case, you want to have something listed in each category section because if you happen to have a ranking in the last category section but nothing higher on the page, you are not likely to get a click.

What you really need to do in addition to adding content and optimizing your site, is also focus on getting something in the other Verticals.

Top 5 Ways To Participate in Universal Search

1. Google Image Search: It has always been a good idea to use images on your site for illustrating your products and services. Now customers can find your site via Google Image Search. Optimize your images with descriptive, keyword-rich file names and ALT tags. Use accurate descriptions of your image files for the benefit of those who might need to view the site in text only format.

2. Google Video (beta): Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your video files. Also create a keyword-rich title tag, description tag, and video site map.

3. Google News: Submit your press releases for display as news, and also as a new content page on your site.

4. Google Maps: AKA Google Local – this has been included in Google search results for a while. Give your site a local presence through the Google Maps Local Business Center where local businesses can get a free basic listing to extend their reach in the SERPs.

5. Google Blog Search (beta): Use social media and Blog engines to drive traffic to the site. Submit to the Google Blog search and have your Blog help boost you in the new world of Universal Search.

With a better understanding of the options, it becomes clear that in order to boost your exposure in the search engines and get new traffic you need to be proactive in anticipation of these Universal Search changes. Don’t wait until it is too late and you are scrambling to catch up.

New Internet marketing tools are coming online each and every day. Why should you care? Mainly because these new marketing tools can have a dramatic impact on your online traffic, leads and sales. So much so, your online competitiveness can greatly depend on you finding and using these new marketing tools before everyone else does.

And as Internet marketing grows more and more lucrative, it is becoming more competitive each day, so staying aware of what’s happening has become vital to your online success. More importantly, if you’re a full-time marketer like me, your livelihood will largely depend upon you being able to keep on top of all the new ways of marketing on the web.

With these considerations in mind, I would like to líst some new or relatively new marketing tools that have been effective for me in my online marketíng. Some of these are marketing software, others are SEO strategies, marketing tips and the like… all have helped me achieve my online goals.

Here are some new marketing tools you can try:

1. Real Link Finder

Neil Shearing’s “RealLinkFinder” is a handy little link-building tool you can use to increase your link popularity and SE rankings.

It lets you find targeted blogs that don’t have the “nofollow” attribute tag so your links will count in all the search engines. Great way to build targeted links related to your site’s main keywords or keyword phrases. This is one “No Cöst” link-building tool you should try.

2. Peel Away Ads

Simple ads which sit at the corner of any webpage, when a cursor hovers over the pulsating image – the page peels away to reveal your ad or promotion. Might seem a bit gimmicky, but like the pop-up or fade-in, they do work. You do get more sign-ups and sales. www.pealawayads.com

3. Video Marketing

Using videos as marketing tools has now become commonplace on the web. If you’re not promoting with videos, you are losing a large portion of the online traffic or surfers currently on the web.

Even using videos to explain your site or product will increase your conversions and sign-ups. Viral videos embedded with your links or site url can produce results when placed on YouTube or Google Videos. If you need help, one recent commercial product has been from Simon Grabowski (GetResponse) called TalkStream, which lets you put streaming audio and video on your sites. Just google to find it.

4. Social Media Bookmarks/Tags

One of the most significant changes in recent years has been the rise in importance and use of social bookmarking sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati… these sites are now commanding huge traffic numbers and should not be ignored in your online marketíng.

You must connect your content with these sites. This is very simple to do since social media sites use tags, which are more or less simple keywords that help classify content and links. If you’re using the popular Wordpress blog software, each category will be considered a tag.

You can create a simple tag in technorati by using this code:

<a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/[tagname]” rel=”tag”>[tagname]</a>

<a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/new+marketing+tools” rel=”tag”>new marketing tools</a>

5. Add this Button

One of the easiest ways I have found to tap into the whole social media bandwagon is to put the Addthis button on your webpages and let your visitors bookmark your content for you.

This button is free and only takes seconds to set up on your pages. In case you’re wondering if this button works, I recently received 70,000 visitors to one of my sites in one day from these social media sites. Granted most of this traffic is transitory and not permanent – the huge traffic numbers will only last as long as your links/bookmarks are on the front pages of these popular sites.

But where there is smoke, you can make fire.

6. Blogs RSS Feeds

Likewise, you must have a blog and RSS Feed associated with your site or product. It is vital that you take advantage of this technology to get your content broadcasted across the web and around the world.

RSS is only simple code that syndicates your content to all interested parties; it originally stood for “Rich Site Summary” and was a way of summarizing your content and broadcasting it. Most people now refer to RSS as Really Simple Syndication. You need a “newsreader” or aggregator such as Newsgator, Google Reader, My Yahoo! or Feed Demon to access all your feeds.

One little blog traffic tool I find helpful is John Reese’s BlogRush, which helps syndicate your blog posts on other blogs.

7. Expert Marketing

Another effective way to market online or off is to promote/prove yourself as an expert in your chosen field. Creating articles, ebooks, websites on a subject that interests you will make you an expert. Once you gain credibility as an expert, your marketing will become much easier.

Some obvious places to help build this credibility would be Ezinearticles, SelfGrowth, Ideamarketers… I have found these places are excellent for getting your name and your content noticed.

8. Long Tail Niche Marketing

One of the most effective ways to market online is to use long tail keywords in your niche market. This simply means instead of targeting very general and very competitive keywords, you target less competitive long tail keywords in a smaller niche market.

I have found this tactic especially good for affiliate marketing, and the trick is to find the exact long tail phrase someone is using in the search engines and then construct content/url to match it. I find Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite software program extremely helpful in finding those long tail keywords.

9. Guru Fast-track

One of the fastest and quickest ways to earn large amounts online is to hook up with big marketing GURUs and use their huge contact lists. If you have a high quality info product, then JVs (joint ventures) with these savvy marketers can be a very viable option for you to try.

These marketing gurus or experts are valuable marketing tools you can use to your advantage. Granted, their aggressive marketing methods do turn many people off, but there’s no denying their methods do work.

10. Micro-List Marketing

Micro-List Building is one of the most effective online marketíng tools you can use. Quite frankly, I have found building a large opt-ín líst is not the real key to online wealth but instead creating small micro lists for each of your promoted products to be much more effective. You can have hundreds, even thousands of these different micro-lists. Use an unlímited autoresponder program like Aweber to handle and manage all these lists.

Studies have shown interested customers may not buy on the first visit, that it may take up to six or seven reminders. So keeping in contact with an interested customer, one who is looking and in the right mindset to buy, will definitely increase your sales.

Here, rather then the hard-sell, the emphasis should be on collecting contacts in order to give them helpful informative content on the product they’re interested in buying. Supplying quality content should be your main goal; let the selling take care of itself. If you get the first part right, the sale will come naturally.

In conclusion, you must remember when dealing with such a complex creature as Internet marketing, in most cases there’s no one single marketing tool that will do the job. Instead you need a whole orchestra of tools working together in order to make your online marketíng the most effective. So why not try some of these tools in your own online marketíng and see the results for yourself. You have everything to gain.