In ecommerce, one of the most important things is search. And right now, search has been moved to a whole new level with what is called blended search. Blended search is when the search engine takes it beyond text links to include pictures, video, blogs, news and just about anything else. This is changing ecommerce search especially, because now product search is part of this.

A blended search for a product can bring up reviews, pictures and links to ecommerce Web sites that sell the product. Internet Retailer reports on how ecommerce Web sites can benefit from blended search:

That benefits retailers that provide product feeds to the search engines and keep them current, Sullivan says. “It’s not helpful to you as a retailer to be putting out a product if you’re out of stock,” he says. “You want to make sure you’re updating them with the right price and stock information.”

One way you can increase your visibility on the search engines is to create a product feed. Make sure you update it regularly. Adding pictures or “how to” videos to embellish your product listing could also help. Customer reviews and ratings can also increase your visibility and help in a blended search. Blended search means more integration of more elements. The ecommerce Web sites that embrace these changes are those that will find the most success.

Below, see examples of a search for “DVD players” from the three major search engines. It is worth noting that the “news” aspect highlighted on the Google results probably has something to do with CES this week.

Tags: search engines, blended search, ecommerce, ecommerce Web sites,
three major search engines