The results in Google's search engine results page (SERP) that appear among the traditional organic results, but include additional media such as images, videos, maps, local businesses, and more, are the results of a Universal Search. It's Google's attempt to create dynamic results by combining multiple vertical sections, such as Google Images or Google News, into a single SERP.
Universal search (also known as "blended search" or "enhanced search") is the ability of a search engine to broaden search results by combining results from different indexes (images, videos, maps, news, etc.) into a single search, provided they are relevant.
Google introduced Universal Search in 2007 to better meet users' search intent and make SERPs more user-friendly by providing a wider range of relevant search results.
Before that, the SERPs looked completely different, with nothing more than a list of 10 blue links leading to websites.
With the introduction of universal search, SERPs began to incorporate other media formats from various sources. This increases the likelihood that Google will immediately provide content that matches the user's intent, while simultaneously minimizing the number of search queries and additional clicks.
In 2007, Google integrated vertical search engines into the organic search results for relevant keywords. The term "Universal search» Includes results from areas such as news, images, maps, video and shopping, which are now implemented in the organic search results and can be individually selected via the menu at the top of the search, which is not fixed but changes depending on the user's query.
Enriching the results pages of certain search queries with integrations is an extremely important factor in Google's intention to always deliver "the best result" for the user's individual search query in the shortest possible time.
Universal Search aims to minimize the effort and time users spend searching for further results and to eliminate the need for long-tail queries. This means that integrating media into the SERPs allows Google to better understand user intent.
This increases the likelihood of immediately providing content that meets users' needs, while simultaneously minimizing search effort and the number of search queries. In short: users should find exactly what they are looking for as quickly as possible.
With universal search, your goal is to optimize content for "mixed" search results so that you can rank for different formats and receive high-quality organic traffic.
Follow these best practices if you want to maximize your visibility in universal search results:
First, you should analyze the search engine results pages (SERPs) – and see what the results look like for different search terms.
It's possible that the results for some search queries will consist mainly of websites. In other cases, videos, news articles, and images—or even SERP features or rich snippets—may dominate the results. It depends on which format is most relevant to the specific search query.
Analyzing the structure of the SERPs for different search terms helps you to make an informed decision about the type of content you should create and the keywords you should target.
Of course, you shouldn't do this manually. Instead, use a filter in the Keywords Explorer from Ahrefs, to perform a bulk analysis for multiple keywords.
Here is an example of keywords that return mixed search results, including images and videos:
You should also work on improving the visibility of your non-textual content. Firstly, this will lead to more organic traffic via general search. And secondly, it will help improve the overall reputation of your website.
When optimizing images for universal search, you need to help the search engine understand and interpret the images embedded in your website. You can achieve this by:
Video is a very appealing media format that can help increase organic traffic to your website.
Key aspects of Video SEO are:
Schema markup essentially helps Google better understand the type and format of your content. With properly implemented structured data, your website can rank well in Google's extensive search results, such as news/articles, FAQs, videos, recipes, how-to guides, and more.
They provide context, display precisely the information users are looking for, and make your page stand out in the SERPs. While there's no evidence that it directly impacts ranking, these benefits could increase your organic click-through rates.
The complete hierarchy of values and elements that you can mark up with schema tags can be found at Schema.orgYou can insert parts of the semantic vocabulary (in the form of microdata) into the HTML code of the page. Use the Rich Results Test, in order to test and validate the structured data.
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