Google Changes Search-Results Page, How Merchants Can Benefit

A great article from Practical eCommerce on Google search changes - even if it is already a month old!

May 25, 2010 · by Bill Hartzer

Google has made some major changes to its search results recently, adding more options for searchers. These are not changes to search algorithms, which determine the websites that show up, and where. Rather, the new changes give searchers options that allow them to tailor the type of search results that they see. To help you navigate through these changes and what it really means for your ecommerce business, let's look at sample search results and focus on what your site can do to appear in them. For example, let's focus on one keyword, "toys."

If you look at the search results for the keyword "toys," you will see three columns. On the left side, under the Google logo, there are several different types of search results, such as "Everything," "Maps," "Images," "Shopping," "More," and then "All results." The center column shows the organic search results, and the right side shows Google's AdWords. If you sell toys, then it would be pretty difficult to compete with the large retailers, such as Toysrus.com, Etoys.com, and Walmart.com. However, here is where it gets interesting: It's these other "categories" or "types" of search results where a smaller business that sells toys could compete.

Local Search

In the search results for "toys," Google has decided that I am in the Killeen, Texas area, so it is showing a Google Map that points-out the local businesses that sell toys in the area. Let's look at the Google Maps results.

If you click on the "Maps" link in the middle of the page you will see a map of your current location (Killeen, Texas in my case), and you should also see local search results for your location.

So, how do you show up in this search result? There are quite a few "tips" to doing local search-engine optimization, but some include making sure you claim your listing in Google Places and including your keyword in your business name. Also, keep in mind that some of the local search algorithms might include mentions of your business name and address. So building more mentions of both of those on other websites (similar to link building, but not actually "linking") will help, as well.

Image Search

When it comes to the image search results as shown above, it is still pretty competitive for a lot of high-traffic search phrases such as "toys." However, there is a good opportunity to focus on appearing in the search results for product names with "long tail" keyword phrases that include two, three, or more keywords. The key to ranking well in the image search results is still like the organic search results: links to the actual image files tend to help out a lot. I have been successful in the past by allowing other websites to "hotlink" to certain images. If you allow this, then I would make sure that your watermark or web address is added on the photo.

Google Shopping

For the shopping search results, make sure that you are feeding your products to Google Shopping. There is an "information for merchants" area there, where you can start a data feed. If your website does not currently automatically generate a shopping feed of your products, this can be done manually. You can create this feed of all of your products, product descriptions, links, and prices in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, save it, and manually upload the file. If you have an ecommerce website and have not taken advantage of Google Shopping then you are definitely missing out on more sales.

Google has specific categories of data that must be included in every shopping feed, so you'll need to read the FAQ or help section. Otherwise, frequent updates to the feed (daily, if possible) and links to your specific products from other websites will help. (For more on Google Shopping, see "Google Product Search: Creating a Data Feed," one of my previous articles here on PEC.)

"Latest" Search Results

Another search option that Google has added recently is the option to see the "latest" search results. This is where all of us have a good chance to compete with even the large retailers for keyword phrases such as "toys." Look at the example on the left.

These "latest" search results, for many keyword phrases, will scroll in "real time." If you mention a keyword on a social media website, for example, then most likely it will show up at some point very quickly in search results. This will give you a chance to "rank well" for that keyword phrase, at least for a few seconds or even a few minutes, depending on how many other people are mentioning that keyword phrase. On the right side, you'll notice the "top links" for that keyword phrase. This is a good opportunity to do some "link building" for your website, to get some additional mentions of your business and a link to your website. You may end up with some immediate traffic and sales, and, in the long run, you'll end up with some more "on topic" links to your website.


With the addition of the latest search results, Google has given all of an opportunity to rank well, at least for some period of time. If your message is right and you combine some social media accounts along with some blog posts on your website and even updates on your Facebook account on a regular basis, then this is a terrific opportunity to begin to drive traffic and sales to your website.

The 4 Steps to Achieve Top Search Engine Rankings

The success of your online business requires that potential customers can easily find you. One way to increase your online presence is through a well thought out website marketing strategy. The 4 steps below detail specific areas of focus that would be part of a typical web marketing strategy.

1. Website Optimization - This involves maximizing your website content so that it targets your specific business niche. Meta tags and particularly meta titles should reflect the keywords that best describe your site content. Pages should be organized hierarchically with a clearly defined and organized site map. Also consider linking to your best content (that content that is most important or defines your business, product or service offered) directly from the home page.

2. Link Building - The more inbound links to your website, the better it is for you. Every inbound link is like a "vote" for your site. A link building campaign seeks to not only increase the number of inbound links but also to ensure that these links are relevant and accurate. This is one case where quality is just as important as quantity. For example, the inbound link anchor text (the wording that you click on when you select the link) should be descriptive of the page that it links to. Achieve relevance by focusing your link building efforts on sites within your topical niche. Focus your marketing efforts on the biggest, most authoritative sites within that niche.

3. Website Marketing - This is the ongoing process of creating relevant and interesting content for your site and then getting that content indexed in the places that you've identified above. The information must be topical and you should use the search keywords and phrases you're targeting throughout your page or article as they apply. For an e-commerce site this might include adding specific keywords to a product description or title. Another great way to achieve this is to create a press release for the content you would like to feature.

4. Measurements: Analytics and ROI - Once a customer visits your site each action they take can be tracked and recorded. These cumulative records become the measurements that are translated into useful information to give you the results you need. For example, where does a user come from when they access your site? How long on average do they stay and what pages are most visited? What is your conversion rate, in other words how many visits turn into actual sales? Obviously, these are questions that any business owner is interested in the answer to.

Your online business can benefit in numerous ways from a web marketing strategy that employs the steps listed above. Once you apply these changes and implement the tools needed to track and measure your site visitors you will see the results.