With universal search, search engines are attempting to break down the walls that traditionally separated various vertical search properties and integrate the vast amounts of information available into one simple set of search results.

Google made the move to “universal search” in an effort to improve user experience. This is an integration of vertical search engines into the search results fusing a broad scope of information that’s relevant to the user’s initial query. Regular search — when you go to Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask or any general-purpose search engine — is “horizontal” in that you are searching across an extended variety of material. Information from sports sites, news sites, medical sites, shopping sites — the entire horizontal spectrum of topics is represented.

Universal search queries many vertical search services and then blends the results with the regular “horizontal results”, but only if the relevancy of the results is a better match for the users’ original query. Simply put this means that you may see videos, blogs, or books along with websites when you search. Additionally, based on your search history and user data, two people can be searching for the same thing, yet both see different results. Universal search is quickly moving to make the overall search experience much more personal, and therefore more relevant to the end user.

How does this impact your website?

Very simply, the best answer is still the best answer. This means that your web content must be concise and relevant to the user query to perform well in universal search results. It’s becoming more important than ever to have engagement objects and “take-aways” included as website content. If you consider the list of vertical categories used in universal search, the areas for improvement becomes clearer:

1. Blog Search
2. Book Search
3. Catalogs
4. Code Search
5. Directory
6. Finance
7. Images
8. Local/Maps
9. News
10. Patent Search
11. Product Search
12. Scholar
13. Video
14. Web Search

After reviewing this list, find out if your website includes optimized blogs, MP3’s, PDFs, videos, images, or any other type of take away objects. Universal search also means that engagement metrics have become even more important when you are monitoring your website’s performance. Seme of these key metrics include time on site, pages per visitor, and the bounce rate.

Google introduced a “geographic box” at the top of its search results and found that its users value this component. The engine now displays ten local search results at the top of the listings for relevant queries, provided they have a geographic modifier attached. For example, if you type “Chicago accounting” in Google, you will see ten results bordering a map that shows the location of ten accounting firms in Chicago.

Take note; you will not see local search results for all queries that contain a local modifier. Google somehow “knows” when a geographic modifier truly means that you only offer services in a specific area. Yeah, those guys are pretty good.

Some benefits of using local keyword phrases to improve search engine ranking are as follows:

1. Higher search-engine rankings: Competition will be weaker for the local keyword phrase you have identified.
2. Higher conversion rates: Since you are using the actual local keyword phrase your visitors are looking for, the website traffic you get is highly targeted.
3. Make more money: Your earnings potential is higher when you pull in local search engine traffic because people who come to you are more serious about your product, service or information. Many customers prefer to deal with people that are local, even if the business is national, or even global.

It’s a red-hot consideration for your online marketing strategy right now to include your regional presence, so contemplate the impact of local search engine optimization for your business.

Ranking with the search engines for local markets, requires a shift in marketing the big three search engines for global traffic. If your service is not global, then do not dilute your SEO efforts from targeted local online markets.

Your #1 goal is to use localized target keywords. Actual localized keywords will bring you a steady stream of natural traffic through local search.

Here are the steps involved for successful optimization in local markets.

1. Localize your target keywords. This includes prefixing or suffixing local terms, names, and names of areas, cities or zip codes with target keywords.

2. Make sure your website is submitted to local search engines, directories and web based yellow pages.

3. Display your mailing address with street address, zip code and complete. Once your site is indexed, these words gain prominence as a part of content.

There are several generic, and basic forms of strategic internet marketing, and most can work for a broad class of websites and online businesses through the different web site search engine optimization tactics available. In the online world, with affordable search engine optimization you need to choose your target niche market too. While selecting your target market seems unimportant, it will waste a lot of online marketing dollars if done incorrectly. When you sharpen your focus with strategic internet marketing, and properly identify your target market and users, you will be able to market your business online more cost effectively.

So, why is strategic internet marketing important? Your target market is the group of people or companies to which your business aims to sell its products or services. Well, you say, “I want to sell to everyone. Why should I pick just one group?” There’s an old marketing saying that goes like this “Target everyone and you target no one”. How can you develop effective web site search engine optimization strategies without knowing who you’re talking to.

You need to differentiate itself from competition in order to survive. Consider these customer characteristics when your develop an affordable search engine optimization strategy:

1.Geographic. The first area to consider when researching your target market is geographic, people or businesses in a certain area. Each geographic area is unique and has it’s own identity.

2.Demographic. The second area identifies the basic qualities and characteristics of your target market. They may include age, gender, culture, employment, industry, income level, marital status, etc. Collecting information about your current or past clients may help show things they have in common which will help in future marketing. Using your web log data is vital here.

3.Behavioral. These are made up of the emotional and behavioral qualities of your target market. They include the emotion, reasoning, psychology, logic and thought processes behind your target markets decision to buy your product. It’s really important to understand what motivates them to buy.

Upon completion of a thorough strategic internet marketing review of the target marketing metrics listed above, it’s then time to select your web site search engine optimization approach. You will need to determine what most influences your target market. Then evaluate your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and their internet marketing tactics. With this information in hand, you are now ready to create a strategic internet marketing plan, including a your online marketing budget.

Start your plan by selecting the most affordable search engine optimization tactics for your website. These may include;

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – link-building, keyword optimization, etc.
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – search engine advertising, also called pay per click advertising or PPC.
3. Viral Marketing – video / file-sharing, tell-a-friend, etc.
4. Affiliate Marketing – having others sell your products for a percentage
5. Online PR – online press releases, blogging, etc.

As a part of creating a strategic internet marketing initiative, list all possible affordable search engine optimization techniques that fit your budget and have the potential to reach your target market. Once you have a master list for web site search engine optimization, run each through the following checklist to narrow down the best options, and create your final list for your strategic internet marketing plan for your website or online business.

A successful search engine marketing plan will include these elements:

1. It will reach your identified target market.
2. It will set your website apart from your competition.
3. It Will fit within your online marketing budget for your website.

If you’re actively pursuing internet marketing online to achieve more natural search traffic channeled to your Web site, then you’re very likely considering launching a search engine optimization (SEO) initiative.

Prior to you beginning your search for an online internet marketing firm or preparing to launch into this plan yourself, consider what you’re willing — and not willing — to do to improve your site’s search engine ranking.

Let’s begin with the basic questions that will help assess your course towards creating an effective search engine optimization strategy. The absolutely critical question you must ask yourself is, what are the business objectives for your Web site? Do you want to increase traffic, increase sales, improve visibility, generate more leads, or something else?

Before you can set your sights on garnering greater search engine referrals, consider targeting specific areas of your business that can provide demonstrative results. Make sure that the design of your website supports the business goals that you have identified. Do you have clear navigation to support your objectives? Is your “call to action” visible and can it be easily monitored and measured?

It’s important that you be specific about your online business goals and objectives before you launch a natural search engine optimization program. It’s equally important that you be as specific and realistic as possible. Understand your competition, trying to out position an established 10 year old, 20,000 page website with a 3 month old, 15 page website is not very realistic. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t make substantial improvements to your site.

If you want to increase sales by 5 percent, for example, you need to factor in current conversion rates, average sales, and current visitor data to get a good idea of how much more natural search engine traffic you need to attain your goals. You should also be aware of where your website stands compared with industry standards.

You’d better have access to your site’s analytics to prepare search engine optimization goals. Reviewing historical data is a critical step in establishing your online business objectives. It’s also a step you need to take to prepare to analyze your internet marketing online strategy results. If you are not sure where to begin, you can always hire an internet marketing firm to point you in the right direction.