In the past few weeks, Google has quietly introduced a new search feature designed to make life easier for users. Trouble is, it’s going to get advertisers hopping mad.

Dubbed ‘search within a search’, it allows users to drill down into web sites to find information without actually leaving Google’s search page. While this might sound very convenient, it has a sting in its tail.

For example, a Google search for Qantas will bring up the company’s home page at the top of the listing. But below this is a new search box labelled ‘Search qantas.com.au’ . If you type into this box ‘flights to London’ a list of relevant references within the Qantas site is displayed. So far, so good.

But at the same time, on the right side of the screen, a list of Google ads appears – many of which are for Qantas competitors. A quick test of this search earlier today generated ads for Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines.

If I was Qantas I would not be happy. Rather than having a potential customer who actually typed my company name into a search engine taken directly to my site, I’ve suddenly got the names of my biggest rivals on their screen.

Retailers and service companies invest a lot of time and effort into optimising their web sites for Google searches, knowing that being at the top of returned search lists can make a huge difference to the volume of traffic they receive. Anything that gets in the way of this process is not going to fill them with glee.

Google will have to think long and hard about this new feature, especially in light of its “Don’t be evil” unofficial company motto. Trying to keep the eyes of web searchers for longer is one thing, but pitting advertisers against each other is very different.

All this has coincided with the release of a US report showing the number of people clicking on Google-generated internet ads has declined for the past three months in a row.

I’m not suggesting the two are connected, or that this marks the beginning of the end for the online powerhouse. It’s probably got a lot more to do with a softening in the US economy.

What it does show, however, is that the company needs to be constantly refining its operations and looking for new opportunities to generate revenues.

That’s fine. But doing this through a ‘search within a search’ function is probably not the best way to go about it.