Blogs to be Included in Google's Universal Search

PC Magazine is reporting that Google is expanding its "Universal Search" initiative next week by officially including blog results in the general search results. So far, no screenshots have been provided, but one would assume (since it isn't specified) that the results will be cordoned off as image and local results sometimes are when the context of the search dictates it (i.e. "Video Production Tyler, TX" vs "Video Production").

Blog results have long been a part of the general search results, and typically favored over other types of content. As such, it is difficult to see this move as very groundbreaking, but it will further thrust the view of New Media journalists into the forefront of the average web surfer, whether they regularly read blogs or not.

Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, says that Universal Search has been a five year effort, and "the current genres are just the tip of the iceberg."

One has to wonder, though, whether the Universal Search mode for Google is the preferred way we all would like to recieve our results. If you dial back the years to when Yahoo had clear dominance in the search space, you'll find that while their results were hand generated, they appeared much like the Universal Search and the Ask3D results appear today, with a balanced mix (for the time) of differing source types and media types.

Yet somehow, with only short autogenerated descriptions and straight text, Google was able to beat out the Yahoo behemoth.  Without going into a detailed research project of a now-and-then study of the demographics of each engine, it is food for thought.  Was it Google's format or their algorithm that won them that support all those years ago.  Is it dillution or improvement to change it to the Universal Search format now?

Let us know your thoughts.