The theme around Google’s recent flurry of enhancements is “Speed”. Faster results, faster indexing and now – Faster access.

Google have just announced two new improvements to “satisfy your information needs more quickly: we’re adding universal search features to Google Suggest, and we’ve released a powerful new extension for Google Chrome called Google Quick Scroll.”

Universal search covers all the various verticals of search Google offers aside from its core web results. These currently include blogs, local business listings, images, video and the list goes on.

This new enhancement will see Google offering you Universal Search suggestions directly from the Google Suggest drop down. The sample below highlights how weather information is being presented in Google Suggest.

In total, there are currently 10 universal search features available in Google Suggest: weather, flight status, local time, area codes, package tracking, answers, definitions, calculator, currency and unit conversions — and we plan to add additional features in the future.

Google have also released a new enhancement to their Chrome browser to help users find information on sites they reached via search results.

Often when you get to a search destination, you have to wade through extensive content to find the info that appeared in the search results. Google’s Quick Scroll extension to Chrome will help take you straight there.

Whilst Google Chrome hasn’t penetrated the browser market in the same way that Google did with the search market, Chrome users should find the new extension a valuable add-on to their search experience.

Both enhancements will offer some improvements to the search experience, but wont exactly set the world on fire. What will make things interesting is if Google extends the Universal search results in Google suggest beyond the 10 features listed.

Imagine if comparison shopping results or local business listings start appearing in Google suggest. Now that would be game changing!

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