Posted by: Tanya Vaughan, Global Search Engine Optimization, HP.com

Carol Krol, of B2B Magazine, wrote an article recently regarding blended search –specifically Google Universal Search and Ask3D - and how it impacts search marketing strategies. 

Both Google and Ask have launched blended search models.  So now when you search you get results other than traditional web sites.  You may see videos, news, images, blogs, even music in addition to (or often replacing) some standard results.  Danny Sullivan did a great job describing and providing examples of Google’s Universal Search in his blog post on Search Engine Land last May. Ask3D offers a similar experience where you can get more than just a standard web site in your results. You can follow their blog about the new Ask3D product that was introduced in June. They’ve even gone as far as including vertical and music (that you can listen to from the results page) listings.

What does this mean for search marketers?  It means blended search models offer a lot of new opportunities for companies to market to and communicate with businesses customers. The ability to provide relevant content via multiple conduits will result in more tailored and suitable communications across a broader set of customers so in that sense it will be a boon for the companies who actually take the time to do it.  Blended search also enables companies to capture more listings on a SERP if they offer the most relevant content in multiple formats - i.e. news, images, video, books, etc. - that are now blended in results with products like Google's Universal Search and Ask3D.

How will it change search marketing strategies?  Well for starters, blended search may change more than just search marketing strategies.  Entire marketing strategies will likely shift to adapt to significant changes or improvements in search experiences since search engines are where so much product, solution and service research is being initiated.  With blended search, other mediums - like images and videos - that will get more visibility through search and can be highly effective marketing vehicles for communicating with business customers, will gain more of an emphasis in the marketing mix. Universal Search and Ask3D will require a focus on optimizing all content, not just text.

Campaign measurement, as a result, will be more complex in that there are more data points to measure. However, with any effective metrics and analysis, the key is to hone in on the key metrics that drive the ROI to keep the measurement effort in balance. Figuring out how you should value an image view vs. a video vs. an article view is going to present an additional challenge.

Universal Search and AK3D are great innovations in search as searchers don’t typically think of using other types of search "verticals".  With Universal Search and Ask3D results, searchers get visibility to relevant content that isn't limited to web pages. These improvements for searchers, however, will necessitate the need for companies to take an even more strategic approach to developing relevant content and optimizing it for their specific customers' needs - regardless of the medium.

These new blended search models create a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for SEO professionals. It’s a significant challenge in many cases just to optimize web pages since, for large companies, it requires getting everyone up to speed on SEO and then getting them to implement best practices. Now these SEO pros will be tasked with optimization of all types of content rather than just text and site architecture, each with its own set of best practices and unique quirks. The challenge for SEO professionals will continue to be to prioritize efforts according to where they are going to get the best return.