Google announces Universal Search
updated 04:50 pm EDT, Wed May 16, 2007
Google Universal Search
Search engine giant Google today announced Universal Search, calling it a breaking down of the "silos" that shelter websites, media, and other content from each other during a search. Visitors to the site will now see both regular web results as well as visual links to photos, Google Video and YouTube clips, and also more information-specific details such as maps or book listings. Extra content will also filter into searches as the engine is developed over time, Google says. The change is dramatic enough that the Mountain View company is improving its underlying architecture to help compare results between one media type and another.
Universal Search is available effective today, and is followed by a new navigation tool that automatically shows which other categories (such as Blog Search or Groups) have information relevant to the search. A new test search method named Google Experimental is also available through Google Labs that can show maps, timelines, and other data about subjects mentioned in the results of a given search.






