It's official: Google is not about search anymore.

It's about finding answers to anything having to do with your life.

An unnamed Googler authorized to speak for the company told Gizmodo's Mat Honan that "Google isn't primarily about search anymore. Sure, search is still a core product, but it's no longer the core product. The core product ... is simply Google." (Quotes from Honan's article, not directly from the Googler.)

This shouldn't be too much of a shock to people who follow Google closely.

Last summer, CEO Larry Page renamed the search group "Knowledge," and the head of that group, Alan Eustace, told us that the company's goal is to provide deep answers to questions, not just search results.

Google's top search engineer Amit Singhal said the same thing last week.

Last fall, Larry Page said that Google's mission is no longer "organizing the world's information." It's now about "driving technology forward." We've been writing about Google's transition from search engine to portal for months.

But Honan makes a good point: the general public isn't aware of this change of heart. Most people still think of Google as a verb -- it's what you do when we want to find something on the Web.

That's not what Google wants to become. And if it has to act more "evil" (by its own earlier definition) to get there, then so be it.

Don't miss: The Case Against Google