Catching up on some interesting developments this week - had less time this week due to some product launches and just - exhaustion.

Anyway, this week, Google launched Universal Search - or at least, the framework for it.  I read a review by Alex Iskold at Read/WriteWeb and am about to weigh in on this - though I'll probably refine my opinions as time goes on and interact with Google's latest search changes.   Alex points out that "..Google does a parallel search across multiple verticals and instantly aggregates the results" and …that "..it  is not difficult to conceive of, but it certainly is quite difficult to implement".

"…Google rolled out more than an aggregator for verticals. What we are seeing is a hybrid approach - tackling vertical search using knowledge of semantics (i.e. understanding the subject), co-occurrence (clustering) and time. It is also clear that these dimensions are only some of the possible slices that Google can execute."

Ok, for 98% of all searchers - this is probably enough - most people, I believe, would rather stick with what they know (BRAND) where they get good results (even if they are not perfect) then go to a specific vertical Search Engine.

"…So where does this leave us and what is the score now in Google vs The Others? It appears that Google has executed a major blow to the entire competitive search market and some specialized competitors. Why? Because Google just showed that they care about vertical search, they can do it well and, most importantly, they have an algorithm that generalizes the vertical search."

So…it's all about time…. isn't it?   Think about it.  Most laptops and desktops run a version of Microsoft Windows - with a small percentage of Linux users and then, if you want something else, you buy a Mac.  Right?

Microsoft will never lose the overall market - just as Google will never lose the overall Search Market …… there's no use for a company to fight it … the war is over.   Google will only continue to grow bigger and even more powerful and totally dominate Search for the foreseeable future.   

That means that Yahoo and Microsoft might as well give up on their Search Engines - they'll never be able to catch up …. and the verticals will be fine, as long as they service small, niche audiences that are the 1%-2% that want something more than what Google offers to the 98% of the rest of us. 

Still, that leaves open the questions as to what happens to PPC platforms that run on Yahoo and Microsoft (Panama and AdCenter) - what happens to them?   I don't see either Yahoo and Live going away anytime soon but I do think neither will ever gain enough marketshare to be truly profitable.  Still, it's important to have an alternative (ie: you don't have to send your mail via the US Post Office - you can use FedEX or UPS to send all your mail if you really wanted to..but it will cost you!).  Ok, my Post Office example is poor - let me try to improve it. 

Let's say, that the Post Office represents Google and UPS is Microsoft Live - it would still do OK - with certain kinds of packages - not so much you regular letter - but a package ….. or a refrigerator …your not going to want to send that by the Post Office.

Alex concludes with:

"..It appears that Universal search delivers a major blow to the entire vertical search space. We have argued for a while that innovative/better technologies will have a difficult time competing against Google's algorithm. And now the verticals are threatened by Universal Search. Since UI improvements are also difficult, because not all consumers respond to them well, it appears that Google's latest move has solidified its position as the search king."

I know, it's more complex issue - and Read/WriteWeb also pointed out that:

"..Nitin Karandikar ..notes that "the best Vertical Search engines do a lot more than simply offering search results limited to a given domain; often, they provide specialized UI paradigms, domain-specific parameters, communities, partnerships within the domain, related services, and so on. Until Google can start focusing on these additional strengths (and I'm guessing they will stick to some key domains for the foreseeable future, like jobs, real estate and travel), VSEs will continue to dominate specific domains. As an example, Zillow and Trulia provide results and services in real estate that go far beyond simply finding relevant web documents."

But that just reinforces my point - in time - Google will focus on domains beyond Jobs, Real Estate, Travel, etc.   Sure, the audience on Vertical Search Engines is more specialized - and that makes it easier to reach a specific market - just go after the searches who use that vertical. 

And that gets into a different issue - how to you optimize search for a search result that becomes more and more individualized - based on the query and who the searcher is (because Google has your Search History and Web History and is using it to disambiguate your search).

The whole field of Search Marketing is about to go though another transformation - but all that is being driven by how fast Google can implement changes while Yahoo and Microsoft Live can do little else than follow after Google.

Ok, enough for one post.