Google has announced new search features and a redesigned homepage in a move towards ‘universal search.’
What this ties together is the many different search features that they offer. Google’s Marissa Mayer explains the reasons for this move as: “help[ing] you find the very best answer, even if you don’t know where to look.”
Read/Write Web looks at how this affects other search engines that focus on vertical search:
“So where does this leave us and what is the score now in Google vs The Others? It appears that Google has executed a major blow to the entire competitive search market and some specialized competitors. Why? Because Google just showed that they care about vertical search, they can do it well and, most importantly, they have an algorithm that generalizes the vertical search.”
The best recap of the background of this move, and what it means, can be found at Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land.
Variety has more on how Google is integrating video content into their regular search.