• Google Blogoscoped, Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:15 PM

There have been multiple accounts of changes to Google's SERPs with regards to Universal Search, but the search giant admits to constantly tinkering with the algorithm and certain interface features in the aims of "improving the user experience."

But the newest change caught by the blogosphere is the shift to a double-paneled SERP (a la Ask-3D minus one pane), with the images, video or other non-text results lined up in a OneBox on the right side of the page. Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag notes that this new interface is remarkably like a design scheme AOL tried (and then trashed in favor of copying Google) this spring.

Alex Ionut Chitu questions whether this shift toward separating the results means that Google thinks its integration of all the info with Universal Search was a mistake -- and whether it's a sign of (gasp!) the giant learning a lesson from the underdogs when it comes to the user experience.

Read the whole story at Google Blogoscoped »