Universal search is the “new black.” Google started this fashion trend back in May when it launched universal search to great fanfare at its Searchology conference. Google is initially incorporating five vertical search results into the regular Web results. At Searchification Day in September, Microsoft announced Live Search enhancements that sound not unlike what Google is doing. Ask points out that it has been providing a variety of result types longer than anyone (although these results generally have appeared on separate portions of the page, rather than blended in a relevantly ordered way). Over time, the engines will continue to incorporate more types of results, which will be an improvement as well as a drawback.
