Google unveils 'Universal Search' across all its services

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to try to integrate its internet search with its other services. The search giant wants its search user base to use the other services Google offers. To do just that, the company has announced that it has combined its different internet search services into one Universal Search service. What will that do, you may ask? In addition to the regular expected search results from a customer's query, it will also present results from other Google's properties including news, blogs, video and other services Google offers.

You can see it now if you subscribe to Google's services -- there is a new, combined "More" drop-down box that lists Google's search methods in a rather long list. So, if you're searching for "Bill Gates" at www.google.com, you'll now see results from the web, from news websites, from blogs, from Google Video entries (YouTube as well) and other Google services.

This gets customers used to seeing search results in several of Google's lairs, with the intent that those customers will, over time, begin using those service. This should come as no surprise as Google tries to get its internet search customers to use the plethora of other services the company now offers. As more customers use the new Universal Search, the more relevant the advertising becomes (according to Google) as the company learns the fine threads about how, where and why customers search for information across all facets of the Google network. That, in turn, will lead to more click-throughs on ads, which is what Google is really after.