Did you know that 13 hrs of new video is uploaded every minute onto YouTube and over a half a billion photos make it onto Flickr in a day? These staggering statistics point to a significant change in internet behavior and in how we now approach search marketing initiatives.

It was only May 2007, when Google announced its first critical steps towards a universal search model that would offer an integrated approach to delivering a single set of search results that would incorporate information from a variety of sources – including video, images, news and maps. 

“The ultimate goal of universal search is to break down the silos of information that exist on the web and provide the very best answer every time a user enters a query”. said Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products and User Experience at Google.

In January of this year Comscore observed 220 million google searches containing a universal result. That is 1.2 billion searches overall, or 17% of queries. This is not an insignificant number!

Since then we have also seen search engines like Yahoo!, Ask and MSN all integrate blended search results.

So what is the significance of this?

Well for one thing it is too soon to abandon the ranking software because the algorithums for blended search are still evolving but here are some immediate steps you can take.

1. Take Inventory of your digital assets as a first step in planning for universal search.

2. Evaluate your current optimization

3. Identify the gaps and

4. Develop a solid plan to fill the gaps. 

Full circle web marketing means getting it all out there. If it seems overwhelming, maybe start with the low hanging B2B fruit like white papers, product images, maps etc..

5. Finally. Put on your 3D glasses and fasten your belt. Blended and Universal Search confirms a very robust multi-media experience.