COMMENT Cooper on Search

The prevailing wisdom is that brands should produce multimedia content in order to provide compelling user experiences online. But will it soon be the case that they have to do so to remain visible in search results?

Search engines, as with Google's Universal Search and Ask's Ask 3D, are increasingly displaying multimedia results in their natural listings. Is this putting more pressure on brands to develop extra content like blogs and videos? 

This was one of the subjects brought up regularly during conversations at Search Engine Strategies (SES) London this week - what pressures are being put on advertisers and SEO specialists to make sure they remain above the fold? 

I've always liked the concept of blended search, as it's being increasingly termed, but the conversation has moved from understanding what it is to how to make the most out of every bit of content - video, audio, images - a brand has. 

There's now a feeling that blended search is posing tough questions for some brands, a point raised in today's NMA Podcast. 

If you're promoting a Hollywood blockbuster, naturally you'll have videos, images and great online content, with a budget the size of a mountain. But is it the same for, say, B&Q? 

Is this creating a division between those advertisers that have the resources and those that don't? Does every advertiser need to have a blog, a video, multiple images, in order to remain visible? 

I think once Universal Search results become more common, a lot of brands will suddenly realise SEO just got that little bit harder.

Published by: Will Cooper

Published 22nd February, 2008

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