Google's Universal Search

Have you noticed the changes on Google search? Google looks a little bit different. That's because Google has modified its search engine on May 16, 2007. It is a whole scale change, not just a slight modification. Google has moved from website search to universal search.

So, what is universal search? What makes this kind of search different from the previous search method? If you look at Google's press release, you'll find that instead of having search results filled with mostly websites, Google will begin showing video, images, news, books, and maps on its search results pages. Our search results will look different.

For example, try searching for the keyword phrase "Darth Vader." When I searched for it on May 25, the first search result was a news item from CBS News. Also, this search result was accompanied with a picture. I scrolled down and found a Youtube video at the seventh search result. As I scrolled to the bottom of the page, I saw older news results from 2002 and 2005. Also, I found three more pictures.

As you can see, this is a huge change for Google. We will find more images. We will look at more news items. We are going to see more videos in our Google searches.

Why did Google make these changes? Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, says, "Our focus has always been making our users' search experience as simple and straightforward as possible. The ultimate goal of universal search is to break down the silos of information that exist on the web and provide the very best answer every time a user enters a query. While we still have a long way to go, today's announcements are a big step in that direction."

Why didn't Google make these changes sooner? It's only now that Google has had the technology to make universal search happen. It takes more computing power to search through different types of websites than just searching through text-based websites. Google spent over two years to develop universal search. Over 100 engineers contributed to this effort.

I think universal search will be good thing for the general public. The internet is much more than just websites filled with text. Video is especially becoming more popular. Youtube is now one of the most trafficked sites on the web. With the addition of news and books, our online search experiences will be more varied and comprehensive.

Sources:

"Google Begins Move to Universal Search." Google. URL: (http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/universalsearch_20070516.html)

Thomas Claburn, "Google Universal Search, A Massive Effort." Information Week. URL: (http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=214IXMXEVQAJAQSNDLRCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=199601315)