comScore, a company that “measures the digital world”, has upgraded the way they define searches. Previously, comScore defined “the search universe” as searches that occur at the major search engines. Now they’re defining “the search universe” by expanding their total market view–the now include other searches that occur on the Internet.

comScore’s qSearch 2.0 interface will provide you an in-depth view of the search universe in the United States and worldwide that encompasses the following:

– Core Search Engines — the five major U.S. search engines (i.e. Google Sites, Yahoo! Sites, Microsoft Sites, Ask Network and Time Warner Network).

– Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, which includes sites such as MySpace, Baidu, and Naver.

– Major “vertical” search locations — such as eBay and Amazon in retail and Expedia in travel.

– Partner Search — searches initiated at partner sites that redirect the visitor to a search engine site.

– Cross-Channel Search — counts multiple searches when employing more than one search tab (e.g. Web, images, news) for a single search term.

– Local Search — maps, directions, and local directory listings.

– Worldwide Search — includes comprehensive reporting of worldwide search, with individual country reporting for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., France, Germany, Japan, China, and Korea. Additional countries will follow.

The comScore qSearch 2.0 service will now give you the ability to discern whether the search originates from a text box on a search engine portal, an auto-search typed in the browser’s URL line, a search from a text box on a downloaded search toolbar, local search, or a partner site. The “expanded search universe” will add the ability to view search within a collection of vertical sites such as shopping, travel, or careers.