Google Finally Catches Up with SEO

(And now for an alternative view on today’s big news…)

I don’t understand the huge, collective “WHOA” on search blogs about today’s Google announcement. Here’s why:

For the past couple years, good search marketers have expanded our job description beyond the basics of SEO. Sure, we still take care of page titles, page content, site structure and crawlability, and link building. But the industry has come to realize that modern search marketing is about a lot more than that:

• We know certain industries, like retail, have unique challenges and need unique solutions.
• We know that social media offers new opportunities to gain traffic and links, even for small businesses.
• We know that verticals can’t be ignored, like local search, for example.
• We know that video optimization is only going to grow in importance.
• Ditto for image/photo optimization.
• We know how public relations factors into the mix of online marketing.
• And we know that viral marketing is a must in the current landscape.

What we refer to as “search marketing” involves a lot more than it used to. Search marketers are out in front on this, always digging (pun fully intended) for new opportunities to gain mindshare, traffic, and links for our clients.

So, with that in mind, it’s nice to see Google is finally catching up to us: Google Begins Move to Universal Search. Press release snippet:

Beginning today, the company will incorporate information from a variety of previously separate sources – including videos, images, news, maps, books, and websites – into a single set of results.

In other words, video optimization, image optimization, press release optimization, local search optimization, etc., are all now important. Is that really news? I suppose it is for searchers, but it shouldn’t be for search marketers. Seems like Google is finally catching up to us. If search marketing is about much more than web pages, shouldn’t search itself be more than that, too? Yep.

For non-alternative coverage, let me recommend Danny’s amazing overview on Search Engine Land, Andy at MarketingPilgrim.com, and Bill unearths the patent application at SEO by the Sea (with a cool screenshot, too).