Earlier this week Google announced that it has revamped its search engine in
order to redefine and reorganize how results are displayed. Google’s new offering combines results from its news, image and general search engines. For example, a search on Apple’s Steve Jobs reveals links to news reports, video and his company’s Website.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts are currently debating the implications of Google’s Universal Search Engine. For example, according to Click Z, advertisers could benefit by incorporating video imagery into ad content, as streaming video will be potentially playable within search results.
What Will Be The Impact On Healthcare Social Media?
Of course, one wonders whether healthcare social media, which has traditionally done well in organic search, will benefit or suffer from the shift to Universal Search. While Google’s changes will take a while to come fully online, the short answer is “not yet.” I conducted a few searches using common health-related terms like diabetes, depression and bipolar today. As indicated by previous research, Wikipedia continues to dominate the search rankings, appearing on the first page of many searches. In addition, content from the social network dailystrength.org and blog crazymeds.org appear on the first page of a Google search for the antidepressant Lexapro.
I’ll be keeping an eye on how Universal Search impacts healthcare social media and will report on what I find.
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