Oct 4th, 2007
Oct 4th, 2007
With Google Universal Search dazzling searchers around the globe, it’s no surprise that Yahoo! has rolled out a similar service — the New Yahoo! Search, which integrates event listings, photos, videos, and other multimedia into formerly text-reliant search results.
Shining in this new Yahoo! search can be a little tricky, though.
First, gaining visibility in a universal search model like this one — which may put a Flickr image next to a news article next to a plain old site listing — is not just about simple organic success. In this brave new world of search, site owners jostling for top spots need to really embrace social and media hosting online.
What does this mean? Two examples — video and images — will give you an idea.
Yahoo! Video: The new Yahoo Search will pull videos from Yahoo! Videos as well as YouTube. To upload your videos to Yahoo Videos, login using a Yahoo! ID and include important search terms in your listings — not only in the video’s title and description, but in tags.
If you have existing content on YouTube, you’re ahead of the game because YouTube videos are set to appear in Yahoo! search results. With YouTube videos as well, make the most of keyword-rich titles, descriptions and tags.
Flickr Photos and Yahoo! Images: Because Yahoo! owns Flickr, and Flickr is currently the market leader in photo-sharing services, it’s a no-brainer that the new Yahoo Search will pull images from this popular service.
Just like Yahoo! Video, you can logon to Flickr using any Yahoo! ID. Successfully listing photos in Flickr is simple — use keyword-rich titles, description and tags, and organize your photos by theme or subject and organize them into descriptive photo sets (digital photo albums). Following these simple steps will help your photos appear in the New Yahoo! Search.
In addition, the new Yahoo! Search is going to integrate many other elements: Hotels, local businesses, events, restaurants, maps, movies, health, and more. Videos and pictures just scratch the surface, but they are a favorite among users, and an attractive, properly labeled video or image is extremely enticing to users. So get optimizing!
