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5 Ways to Prepare Your Website for Universal Search
By Tony D. Baker (c) 2007

The way Google handles search is changing. You may not have
heard of universal search yet, but it is going to affect the way
your website and your company show up in search engine results,
at least for Google. You may have noticed that pictures, videos
and even press releases are showing up alongside websites in
regular search engine results.

5 Ways to Prepare Your Website for Universal Search

You need to develop a strategy to meet these changing search
conditions, and that means optimizing more than just your
website landing page. Images, videos and articles are all parts
of your site that could be working harder for your company. Here
are five tips to help universal search work for you.

Stop the Presses

Make sure your press releases and company news are getting into
Google News and Yahoo News. If you're not doing press releases,
you should seriously consider it. Press releases will give you
one more chance of showing up in the search engine results
beyond your web page. Press releases also give people looking
for information about your company the chance to see you in the
best light. If you play your cards right, you might get some
publicity out of the deal as well.

This is the perfect chance to one-up the competition and
highlight your company as an industry leader. Even if you think
you have no news, you can comment on industry trends or recent
studies relating to your business. The more you get your name
out there, the more results you will ultimately see.

Don't Overlook Images

Images are already starting to show up in search results based
on text around them and the description text in the HTML image
tags. It's not difficult to get images onto your site. You can
include pictures of past projects, process illustrations, graphs
and charts related to your business or industry. A little
creativity in this aspect of your website can pay off with your
images showing up in Google search results.

Once you have the images in place on your website, make sure the
search engines can find them. Pay attention to your image ALT
tags, captions and surrounding text so your images show up.
Always be sure to have keyword-rich descriptions with your
images and use descriptive names for your files as well.

Capitalize on Video Content

Presentations, training videos, interviews and commercials could
all be working harder for your company. Don't let these just
sit on the server when they could be showing up in search engine
results and providing even more results for your site.

Consider creating a multimedia page where customers can view
these and where search engine spiders can locate them. Again, be
sure to have keyword-rich titles and descriptions so search
engine spiders will know what they are seeing. You might also
consider distributing your videos to YouTube for extra exposure
and another chance to show up in the search engine results.

Make Sure Search Engines Can Get to Your Content

Do you know if your site is easily accessible by search engine
spiders? Flash-heavy sites, improper redirects and broken links
can thwart your best SEO efforts. Remember, search engine
spiders see your website differently than a normal user. They
are looking for content and links, and it is in your best
interest to be sure they can navigate your site with ease.

Above all, spiders need clear text links. Uploading a new page
to your web server, while personally gratifying, may as well be
invisible if you do not provide links from your main site. If
you don't lay down a clear link path throughout your site,
search engines may never find your content. Site maps are an
essential tool for making your content search-engine friendly.
Make sure yours is updated regularly and submitted to Google
with the proper formatting.

Don't Ruin Your Hard Work

While it's important to prepare for the future, don't overlook
the basics. Keyword-rich text and title still matter for your
web pages. Quality links to your site are still essential SEO
components. Just because you've discovered new Internet toys
doesn't mean that you should turn away from the tried-and-true
methods. Use both for maximum results.

By taking the time to ensure every aspect of your website is
ready for universal search, you maximize your chances of getting
your name in front of potential clients and customers. Follow
these tips and jump to the front of the search engine multimedia
race.
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President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma's
leading Internet marketing expert with over 10 years of Internet
marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show
on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa or visit
www.Xeal.com to sign up for
a free website analysis on Xeal's Weekly Webinar.
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