Do you feel that this definition should be made more specific or is this a common use of the term?

I think the term has become like “Kleenex” which is a brand name, but is used as a generic word for tissue. The rest I couldn’t tell you.

I don’t use the term if I’m not actually using Google, and I would always capitalize it in writing. It’s hard to insist on this, however, as the process described by @JilltheTooth is just how ordinary language evolves. It even has a name: brand names that have come to represent a product type as a whole are called “proprietary eponyms” and are a form of metonymy.

@SavoirFaire: Villanelles and now metonymy…swoon.

It should not be used as a generic term at all. It is a corruption of a corporate name. We have words for searching.

@marinelife I also prefer to use other terms for searching, but this kind of thing happens all the time. We often don’t even recognize them for what they are (e.g., butterscotch, escalator, frisbee, heroin, kerosene, styrofoam, zipper).

Google is the Fridigatire of search engines, the Cadillac of websites.