Google is definitely King when it comes to vertical search. Unlike other engines that integrate third party verticals as an added service, Google actually owns, develops and manages its verticals based on user behavior. Responding to the “millions of search queries about music” Google gets every day, their latest addition is the Discover Music vertical search engine geared toward consumers. It enables users to search artists, albums, songs or lyrics. It even links directly to partner sites where one can purchase songs or view more detailed information about the song or related recording artists.
Google also integrates vertical results with the blended results of universal search. From an end-user perspective the verticals provide users with a more direct path to what they want. In this case a particular song or musical artist for example. Getting users quickly to the information they want is always Google’s top priority. They refer to this as “time to result” and they want that to be as little as possible.
The new music search engine offers tremendous opportunities for advertisers and businesses that target the consumer music market. They are able to leverage AdWords or banner ads, for example, to sell tickets to concerts, t-shirts, fan paraphernalia, books, images, magazines and more as it relates directly to the musical artist or group that is of interest to the user. Talk about a targeted match!
But the benefits don’t stop there. By understanding the power of Google’s vertical search it makes all the more sense to include elements on your site that satisfy the relevancy, user-friendly, and quality content demands needed to rank well organically in those verticals that offer value to your business. Maybe the music vertical is not relevant to your business but Google Images, Blogs, and Video may be. I’ll talk more about Google’s acquisition of YouTube and the opportunities it opened up for businesses in a later post. The point is Google continues to launch verticals in response to user search behavior. They know what users want and they are prepared to give it to them in the fastest time possible.
It is no wonder they are the #1 search engine in the world and continue to strengthen their lead.
Why not try it out? Search for a song or artist in Google or try the new Discover Music vertical directly.
Have some fun with it!!
