Recently Google announced that it’s ready to move towards a universal search model. A universal search feature, which has been in the works for several years, would allow searchers to view on the search results pages a variety of web content from Google’s specialty engines including local, videos, images, news, maps, books, blogs, and websites.

Here’s a few examples of a search on “darth vader.” Notice the “images” at the top, the integrated “video” within the results, and the “news” and “blog posts” items at the bottom.

Image Results at the top of the search results page

YouTube video appears in results and can be played from the search results page.

“News” and “Blog Posts” linked at the bottom of the page.

So what does this overhaul mean to the millions of people who use Google every day? What are the true benefits to the users? Or, is this change foretelling of Google’s long-term plans, e.g. the potential for revenue through rich video advertising or, for Google to favor their interests in the search results (for instance the “Play Now” feature of videos in the search results can only be accessed for Google owned Google Video and YouTube content)?

Here’s our list of the top pros and cons, as we see it, to Google Universal:

Pros:

1. If it works, getting all the relevant content in one place certainly appeals to the average searcher who wants everything in one place from their videos to their blogs. It’s a good solution for the less advanced or “lazy” searcher.
2. Incorporating all of Googles vertical/specialty searches into the main search results will provide a deeper wealth of information to users. Most of whom either couldn’t be bothered to use the vertical search tools, or didn’t even know they existed!
3. The incorporation of playable video into search results is a giant leap forward and speaks towards a new role for search results pages.

Cons:

1. Universal Search may be a case of too much information. With all the varying content types blended into the results pages, including images, maps, local listings, etc, users might be overwhelmed and confused by the volume and variety of the information presented.
2. For the savvy Internet researchers, everything on one page isn’t necessarily that useful. Sometimes when you’re looking for information you really DO just want to look at only website results, only image results, or only news results. Universal Search claims that they’ll present everything related to your search in one location, but wouldn’t it make more sense to be able to determine yourself what is relevant by having the options presented to you rather than forced on you? For example, a Google-owned site SearchMash http://www.searchmash.com presents a nice way to manage various content searches.What we’d prefer to see in Universal Search might look something like this, with all the vertical/specialty results listed at the top in a nice, compact area:
3. Universal Search represents a “dumbing down” of search. This kind of model goes against the idea of gaining relevance through narrowing the scope. Rather than promoting “smarter” search habits and search queries, Google Universal Search allows users to “stumble upon” relevant content rather than using the tools available to refine and articulate their searches.