Google enhances its core search engine with "Universal Search"

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Google Inc.’s ease to use, simplicity of design, and massive database listings have made it the numero uno search engine in the world. Now, the Mountain View, California-based Web search leader is extending its design magnificence in new directions by combining its different Web search services into one "Universal Search" service that will present Web sites, news, video and other results on one page.

Google Inc. said its "universal search" that began rolling out Wednesday afternoon would offer users a more integrated and comprehensive way to search for and view information online.

The online search giant has expanded its main Web search engine to incorporate information from a variety of previously separate sources, including videos, photos, books and other content, into its main results page. Users can now find all the relevant information collected on a single, easy-to-use Web page.

"Our focus has always been making our users' search experience as simple and straightforward as possible," said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google. "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."

As the name suggests, ‘Universal Search’ means that standard Google searches will derive results from separate properties covering books, local information, images, news, and video, Mayer added. The results will include video from YouTube, Google Video and other sources such as video-sharing site Metacafe.

Google on Wednesday also announced the addition of a Universal Navigation Bar at the top of Google search and other pages, which will allow users to quickly get to other Google properties. For example, Gmail users can jump instantly to search, calendar, documents, and other services.

In addition, the company is also planning to launch a translation service that would automatically translate non-English queries into English, search the Web, then translate all the results into the query's original language.

"That by itself will open the whole Web to different languages," Google's Vice President of Engineering, Udi Manber, said.

However, Google did not directly discuss advertising plans, but indicated the new service could open the door to more relevant ads on search result pages, which accounted for nearly half of the $10.6 billion in revenue the search company generated last year.

"For us, ads are (search) answers as well. I would hope that we can bring some of these same advances, in terms of richness of media, to ads," Mayer said.

Google, the world's largest provider of Web search which handles more U.S. queries than any other search engine, faces competition from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft's Live Search and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask.com service.

Yahoo!, started by two Stanford graduates– Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, is the Sunnyvale, California-based largest and most comprehensive information portal on the Web. The company was incorporated in 1995.

Redmond based Microsoft last year launched its search engine, Live Search, which is crafted to compete with offerings from rival online powerhouses Google and Yahoo, both of them far exceed Microsoft’s share of the Internet search engine market.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin have to be credited for co-finding this giant internet search and advertisement engine, Google, which has helped the masses to be in touch with every sphere of life as it is said, 'Everything is now just a click away and within the reach of everybody.'

After the announcement, shares of Google rose 3.2 percent to close at $472.51 on the NASDAQ on the prospect the changes will open up new sources of advertising revenue.