Google’s recently introduced universal search model represents a major change for the company, a Google official said at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose on Thursday.
Unveiled May 16, universal search is intended to break down silos of information on the Web and provide the best answer every time a user enters a query. The company’s vision for universal search is to search across content sources, compare and rank information in real time, and deliver a single set of integrated results.
“The idea for universal search was really to move away from 10 links and try to give users better, richer answers,” said Marissa Mayer, president of search products and user experience at Google.
