Google has announced it is to integrate various elements of its search facilities into one service.

Under the 'universal search' move, websites, video content, news and other elements will appear alongside each other.

As a result, the announcement by the search engine firm could have major consequences for internet advertisers looking to increase website traffic and brand awareness.

Managing director of Receptional Dixon Jones said: "This move signals a marked change to Google's core consumer offering and may backfire in user testing unless Google are able to introduce personalised search results with more user take up than users have so far gone for."

Meanwhile, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search and user experience for Google, claimed the service could allow more relevant advertisements to be displayed on search result rankings.

However, Mr Jones added that by combining various sources of data into a single results page indicates that the firm could be suffering from "a lack of take-up of the underlying separate types of search, forcing Google to bring the different products to the attention of the user in a different way".

Last month, a study conducted by eMarketer indicated that Google's "traffic and efficiency" had seen it dominate the search engine advertising sector, accounting for some 75 per cent of paid search revenue in the United States.

Senior analyst David Hallerman also claimed the firm "monetises user clicks better than most search engines".