Google Universal Search (see live example or an extreme screenshot) changed the basic rule that only high quality web pages could put your site on the front pages of Google. You can have good positions even without text through the use of images, blogs (RSS) and even videos.

Video Clips in Google Universal Search

Google Universal Search pages can include video clips from YouTube, MetaCafe and other online video sharing sites so instead of writing a long web page, you could create a short video and put it on YouTube. If enough people watch that video on YouTube, Google may include it in Universal Search results thus giving indirect exposure to your main site.

Videos Embedded in Web Pages

Obviously, the approach discussed above is not very practical for most of use because it means that one has to produce as well as upload video in order to make a mark inside Google Universal Search.

If this limitation alone is holding you back from experimenting with video on your site, here’s some good news - your web pages can now rank in Google Universal Search if you’ve embedded video clips in them.

For instance, I was searching for Sarah Lacy on Google for the Mark Zuckerberg interview and found this page from TechCrunch.

What’s interesting is that the TechCrunch entry was actually grouped under the video results category of Google Universal Search and not included as a regular webpage. That’s because it includes a video clip embedded from Viddler and therefore Google decided to show it under the video results category with a thumbnail of the video on the side.

This is so interesting.

Also see: How to Embed in Web Pages