Google unveiled what could become the most substantial change to their core search platform, reports Search Engine Land.

The Universal Search change brings all of Google's vertical search functions - products like Images, Blog, Maps and everything else - under the main Google search umbrella. A search will now return results from all those services on the main page.

As results from various Google vertical services integrate into Universal Search results, some changes will be seen. Web pages that might have appeared on the first page will now be pushed down to make way, for example, for a result from Google News. There will be no hard and fast rule for where blended results will be inserted. Instead Google will place them wherever the algorithm determines is more relevant for the searcher.

Videos from outside services will be shown with a thumbnail image beside them. If the video is from Google Video there will be the option to expand the video box and watch it right there on the results page with no additional clicking necessary.

The proposal will change the way marketers plan search, as even optimized Web search results can now be pushed backward. The process emphasizes being contextual within a given vertical, with the best results from those segments making it toward the top of the results.

Vertical search remains largely unexplored territory.