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A few months ago Google introduced Universal Search and now there are some who are suggesting that Google is about to quietly drop it.

I've talked about Universal Search here several times since it was introduced but in case you've missed those columns and don't have a clue about just what Universal Search might be let me recap for you.

Universal Search was Google's attempt to bring the search results of all their various search engines together. Yes, Google does have a number of different search engines and until May this year each of them was entirely separate from the others. There was Google Maps, Google Video, Google Images, Google Books and several other search engines as well and Universal search attempted to combine all the data from these search engines into one that people accessed by searching on Google.com or one of the regional variants.

From a search point of view that might be a very admirable objective but for it made life so much harder for Webmasters. Instead of ranking in a good position on page one for an important term once Universal Search was introduced they could quite easily be relegated to page 2 of the search engine results page because several positions on page one where taken over by videos and/or images.

Those who are pushing the idea that Google may be about to drop Universal Search suggest that individual Webmasters are not the only ones who have felt the impact of this change in the search engine results pages. Google has felt the impact too as thumbnails of pictures and videos have drawn the attention of people away from the top paid listings and the Adwords ads on the right of the page.

Eye tracking studies done before Universal Search was introduced have shown that almost everybody looked at the top listing and maybe a couple underneath that top listing with quite a few drifting over to the Adwords advertising. It was all very neat and orderly and quite predictable and Google was making money from it.

But since the introduction of Universal Search the eyes have been doing something very different. Instead of starting at the top and drifting down a couple of listings people have been spotting the thumbnails and that's where their eyes have landed on the search engine results page. Invariably those thumbnails have been some way down the page and so very few people have been seeing the top ad.

Even after looking at those thumbnails most people don't go back to the top of the page. Instead they look one or two listings above the thumbnail and one or two listings below the thumbnail and then leave the page in one way or another. When you think about it that must be hurting Google because Google is all about the advertising dollar and if people aren't clicking on the paid listings then Google isn't making any money.

So some experts are saying the Google Universal will be discontinued and they're even suggesting that it's happening right now. I must say that neither Steve nor I have seen that yet and, for search terms where we have some video thumbnails on the page, we're still seeing those thumbnails and still getting good results for them.

Despite those good results with the thumbnails appearing in the search engine results page I do have to say that we won't be sorry if Google does elect to drop Universal Search. There have been some terms where we just haven't been able to convince the client that some video would work for them and to miss out on a page one listing because someone else has done some video can be a little annoying.

On the office moving front ... yes I can confirm that moving office sucks. I sit here typing this surrounded by a wall of boxes just waiting for the new office to be ready for us to move in.

Of course it was all supposed to be seamless and happen in an orderly manner but the wheels fell off and the brand new office wasn't ready when it was supposed to be and now we're all but packed here and the fittings aren't in at the other place. So it looks like we'll be working a few late nights and all next weekend to get the move completed.

Our new business cards have been delayed too and the new site that we're launching to coincide with the move isn't ready either so I am not a happy camper.

Despite all that I can't wait to be in the new office and have our business name on the door.