The announcement by Google this week that they are introducing 'universal search' results means that the main Google search engine will also display more results from images, videos, maps, news, blogs and so on, which are related to a particular search, rather than just text content. This has been happening to some extent for several years now, but with Google's mission to 'organise the world's information' this marks their next big step to provide relevant search results.

This move is interesting in several respects - they seem to be moving away from their vertical search tools by presenting this information on the main Google search tool, but it will also be interesting to see how the rankings may be affected with this new content and how maps or videos will be prioritised against text content.

In terms of search engine optimisation we will need to see how the results begin to differ and how widespread any changes may be, but it also adds new layers to the strategies that may be required to support business rankings in certain markets. Ultimately Google wants to present the best, most relevant, results to users and the challenge for online companies to take advantage of these opportunities will continue across this potentially broader field.