Hey everyone, I am here at Search Engine Strategies San Jose, sitting here in the universal and blended search panel. Mr Tawadros talks about how universal search is only a year and a half old and is still a baby.
Johanna Wright is the first one to speak on the panel and she will be discussing what universal search is all about. Universal search gives the ability to showcase more than just ten links. Google at this time had many of different products such as image search, blog search, etc. Google has gone ahead and combined these attributes to blend them into the search engine result pages (SERPS). Google has spent a lot of time blending in videos from third party sites within the SERPS. Google has now added Blogs, news, books, images, video and much more. Since the launch there has been more diversity and they have expanded to become more global.
How it works?
Someone types in a search and it runs through all the diff rent silo’s to identify potential results to be showcased within the search engine results pages.
Google is working towards are relevance and new verticals.
The next speaker is Chris Pierry from Yahoo! The top section is called the “WOW” box which showcases a multitude of different media such as news, sponsored links, blog, and photos. Yahoo! also showcases blended results not only at the top of the SERPS but also within the middle and at the bottom. Yahoo! is blending video as well, you can click the link to the video or Yahoo! gives you the ability to watch the video right from the search engine result page.
Some results such as Wikipedia are given tabs which the user can click to receive additional content. Search monkey now allows the user to control how they see the search engine result pages. Yahoo! now allows you to add a plugin to your site so users can see additional information on a topic and how it will look on Yahoo!
The next speak is Todd Schwartz from Microsoft, Todd wants to do a demo to showcase blended and universal search. Microsoft is now showcasing a popular image on the home page of live.com which today is Michael Phelps.Todd does a search from Olympics and it showcases how many metals we have won Go Team USA! Microsoft showcases recommended searches, photos, and videos. Microsoft showcases live search fair cast into their search engine result pages, fair cast helps to find the right deals for travel. It looks at the prices around the web and shows if the fairs will decrease or increase.
Next speaker is Eric Collier from ASK.com. Eric will be talking about ASK 3d and the future of it. ASK is blending television show schedules. ASK states they blend the most content out of anyone, organic results, smart answers, images, videos, music, news, blogs, vertical related content, and structured partner content. Some rankings singles ask states are reviews, business rules, buzz factors, story clustering, subscriber counts, and traffic counts. Chris thinks ASK.com is doing a better job at reference queries but really doesn’t discuss how or why that’s the case.
The last speaker is sheshi Seth and he is working with Cooliris. Sheeshi really wants to talk about where this is all going. He indicates that 70% of all monitors are now 17” or bigger and that a majority worldwide are on screen resolutions 1024 or better. He discusses how we surf the web is outdated. Showcases some features of how Cooliris can be the next way people surf the web.
Sheshi talks about how their plugin uses the engines to determine what is relevant or not and then showcase them in a unique and interesting way.
