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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Universal search and personalized search were two of the hot topics at
SMX West
last month. Many webmasters wanted to know how these evolutions in search influence the way their
content appears in search results, and how they can use these features to gain more relevant
search traffic. We posted several
recommendations on how to take advantage of universal search
last year. Here are a few additional tips:
Local search: Help nearby searchers find your business. Of the various search verticals,
local search was the one we heard the most questions about. Here are a few tips to help business
owners get the most out of local search:
Video search: Enhance your video results. Several site owners asked whether they could
specify a preferred thumbnail image for videos when they appear in search results. Good news:
our Video Sitemaps protocol
lets you suggest a thumbnail for each video.
Personalized search basics A few observations from Googler Phil McDonnell:
Personalization of search results is usually accomplished through subtle ranking changes,
rather than a drastic rearrangement of results. You shouldn't worry about personalization
radically altering your site's ranking for a particular query.
Targeting a niche, or filling a very specific need, may be a good way to stand out in
personalized results. For example, rather than creating a site about "music," you could
create a site about the musical history of Haiti. Or about musicians who recorded with
Elton John between 1969-1979.
Some personalization is based on the geographic location of the searcher; for example, a
user searching for "needle" in Seattle is more likely to get
search results about the
Space Needle
than, say, a searcher in Florida. Take advantage of features like Local Business Center and
geographic targeting
to let us know whether your website is especially relevant to searchers in a particular
location.
As always, create interesting, unique and compelling content or tools.
Image search: Increase your visibility.
One panelist presented a case study in which a client's images were being filtered out of search
results by
SafeSearch
because they had been classified as explicit. If you find yourself in this situation and believe
your site should not be filtered by SafeSearch, use this
contact form
to let us know. Select the Report a problem>Inappropriate or irrelevant search results option and describe your situation.
You can post in our
forum
if you have other tips to share!
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eUniversal and personalized search impact how content appears in search results and can be leveraged to drive relevant traffic.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBusinesses can improve local search visibility by optimizing their Google Business Profile and ensuring website information is accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsite owners can suggest preferred thumbnail images for videos in search results using Video Sitemaps.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003ePersonalized search often involves subtle ranking adjustments and can be influenced by niche targeting and geographic location.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eContent creators should focus on providing unique and compelling content to stand out in search results.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["The core content highlights key actions for webmasters to improve their search visibility. This includes adding businesses to the Local Business Center, ensuring correct categorization, and displaying business information clearly on websites. For video results, using Video Sitemaps to suggest thumbnails is recommended. In personalized search, focus on niche content and utilize geographic targeting. For image search, report any incorrect SafeSearch filtering. The document suggests creating compelling, unique content overall.\n"],null,["# Taking advantage of universal search, part 2\n\n| It's been a while since we published this blog post. Some of the information may be outdated (for example, some images may be missing, and some links may not work anymore).\n\nTuesday, March 25, 2008\n\n\nUniversal search and personalized search were two of the hot topics at\n[SMX West](https://www.google.com/search?q=smx+west+2008+recap)\nlast month. Many webmasters wanted to know how these evolutions in search influence the way their\ncontent appears in search results, and how they can use these features to gain more relevant\nsearch traffic. We posted several\n[recommendations on how to take advantage of universal search](/search/blog/2007/05/taking-advantage-of-universal-search)\nlast year. Here are a few additional tips:\n\n1. **Local search: Help nearby searchers find your business.** Of the various search verticals, local search was the one we heard the most questions about. Here are a few tips to help business owners get the most out of local search:\n - Add your business to our [Local Business Center](https://www.google.com/local/add/)\n - Make sure your business is listed under the appropriate [categories](https://maps.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=13431)\n - Make sure your business name, address and phone number appear on your website, and that they're [accessible to search engines](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro)\n - Add your business hours, [images](https://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=62692), [coupons](https://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=45984), or [additional information](https://maps.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=13425) to help searchers determine whether your business meets their needs\n2. **Video search: Enhance your video results.** Several site owners asked whether they could specify a preferred thumbnail image for videos when they appear in search results. Good news: our [Video Sitemaps protocol](/search/blog/2007/12/introducing-video-sitemaps) lets you suggest a thumbnail for each video.\n3. **Personalized search basics** A few observations from Googler Phil McDonnell:\n - Personalization of search results is usually accomplished through subtle ranking changes, rather than a drastic rearrangement of results. You shouldn't worry about personalization radically altering your site's ranking for a particular query.\n - Targeting a niche, or filling a very specific need, may be a good way to stand out in personalized results. For example, rather than creating a site about \"music,\" you could create a site about the musical history of Haiti. Or about musicians who recorded with Elton John between 1969-1979.\n - Some personalization is based on the geographic location of the searcher; for example, a user searching for \"needle\" in Seattle is more likely to get search results about the [Space Needle](https://www.spaceneedle.com/) than, say, a searcher in Florida. Take advantage of features like Local Business Center and [geographic targeting](https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=62399) to let us know whether your website is especially relevant to searchers in a particular location.\n - As always, create interesting, unique and compelling content or tools.\n4. **Image search: Increase your visibility.** One panelist presented a case study in which a client's images were being filtered out of search results by [SafeSearch](https://www.google.com/safesearch_help) because they had been classified as explicit. If you find yourself in this situation and believe your site should not be filtered by SafeSearch, use this [contact form](https://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?form_type=user&stage=fm&user_type=user&contact_type=dissatisfied) to let us know. Select the *Report a problem* \\\u003e *Inappropriate or irrelevant search results* option and describe your situation.\n\n\nYou can post in our\n[forum](https://support.google.com/webmasters/community)\nif you have other tips to share!\n\nPosted by Susan Moskwa, Webmaster Trends Analyst"]]
