As part of Google's annual media day held at the company's Mountain View headquarters, it introduced four new software products; including Google Co-Op, Google Desktop 4, Google Trends, and Google Notebook, to enhance the search experience and to help operate with more transparency.

This is being seen as one more step by Google towards maintaining the lead in Internet search, whilst making its software more accessible outside Web browsers.

Meanwhile out of the four products launched, Google Co-Op lets users improve search results by syndicating their knowledge. Individuals or organizations can now label or categorize Web pages, and make those labels available as a subscription. For subscribers, these labels and associated links get added to search queries wherever relevant.

The major innovation in Google Desktop 4 is Google Gadgets, small applications that can live on users' desktops or inside the Google Desktop Environment.

Google's commitment to openness is also on display with Google Trends, which lets users access data regarding the popularity of search terms over time and then lets them filter that data by city, region, or language.

Finally, Google Notebook is a scratchpad application that lets users store and share URLs and other data copied from Web pages. Google describes it as a simple way for users to save and organize their thoughts, when conducting research online. It's really more of a re-imagining of how browser bookmarks should work.

Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president, product management, Google, said that Google Co-Op and other new services combine the power of Google's technology with the context, knowledge, and unique expertise of individuals. As a result, users can find the information they are looking for, no matter how specialized or specific, faster than ever.

According to sources, the products might seem like a haphazard set, but they clearly highlight the growing role that user-generated content and vertical search play in Google's products and search services.