Go wide and deep for blended search
I often talk about blended results and refer to Google universal results. It has become an important tenet of SEO, yet its exact impact continues to be defined. A great example of Google universal and blended search results can be found in reference to one of my recent posts here. Last week I addressed progressive enhancement with regard SEO, and as a result of Google's addition of news and blog items in their results, that posting landed on page one of for the ultra-competitive search phrase "seo."
More than likely, Google applies a greater focus on freshness for news results versus the regular results. That helped my post break into page one in the first place, but it also was its downfall: my post is no longer on page one. Easy come, easy go! ;-)
What does this all mean? Search marketers and people involved in SEO must pay attention to the importance of the new opportunities blended search offers. Entities like video, images, and blogs take on a new importance, and the consequences of their optimization have become magnified. Search engine optimization, now more than ever, extends well beyond traditional web pages. Take a step back and ask yourself: are my optimization efforts wide and deep enough?
Stephan Spencer is the founder and president of Netconcepts, a Web agency specializing in e-commerce optimized for search engines. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
