Ok, so as many people have probably noticed, the main Google page has changed...slightly. A new bar appeared with the so-called tab links at the top of the screen (which used to be under the Google logo, and at the time of this writing still was in the old position for some versions like Google.ca).

This is part of the launch of the new Google universal search paradigm. The moving of the links is really immaterial, because very few people ever clicked on them anyway. It's surprising how few people are aware of the image search, book search etc. Hence the reason for universal search. Google will now import results from these other "vertical" search services into the main Google web results.

Check out the main Google blog post here.

The main idea here is to present more relevant content for searches. So now, if you type the word ipod into Google and scroll down your results, you'll now see a YouTube video, which you can actually play right on that page. (When I looked, it was the infamous "will it blend" video from the series which I just love!) The theory is that many, if not most searchers miss a lot of good results by not checking the other vertical search services (books, video, images, news etc.), so now Google is going to plop them into the main results.

Begin the great search engine optimization professional freak out! (A Google change! A Google CHANGE! AHhhh)

Ok, well, maybe it's not that big of a deal. In fact, the savvy SEO can now expand into these new verticals to generate all kinds of new success. For example, let's say your trying to promote a martial arts school through search engine optimization. You add a lot of great content to your site with targeted keywords sprinkled though out. You fix up your navigation, meta tags, titles, and all the other little details you need to and you start seeing your site appear higher in Google.

Now... you can start putting up videos of your classes and demonstrations on YouTube, which can suddenly now also appear on the main search engine results page (SERP for those who love acronyms as much as I do *sigh*). If your pictures are numerous and tagged properly, they could also appear separately within the results.

Cool!

If you're a SEO expert, or someone just trying to improve your online presence, this can open up all new avenues for landing on first page. The stronger your presence on the individual vertical search services, the more you'll show up in the main Google search results. The down side is that regular results may be pushed down one or two spots by results from these other verticals. However, by expanding your optimization efforts beyond just the basic web page tweaks, you could have stronger impact than ever.