Testing a new look for Google?
Probably been seen before, but did a search in Google (in IE7 using the search box top right hand corner) and got a tasty new look. — Search results (top half) - click for full pic — Search results (bottom half) - click for full pic — Google "menu" - click for full pic
Context & Ripple Effects
A blogger's IE7 search turned up an unfamiliar results page — navigation relocated to the top left of Google's results — and Google Blogoscoped picked up the same prototype the same day, framing it as a design experiment rather than a rollout. As of April 2007 the change is unconfirmed by Google; it exists only as user-spotted screenshots of a variant layout.
First-order effects
- Users routed into the test bucket see Google's results-page navigation shifted to the top left, while everyone else still gets the familiar layout — meaning any single screenshot shows one arm of a live experiment, not a redesign.
Second-order effects
- Webmasters and search marketers watching the test have to judge whether the repositioned navigation changes how result listings attract clicks before deciding whether to adjust anything; a quiet UI trial forces the SEO guidance industry to react to layouts Google has not acknowledged.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps floating unannounced layout variants into production traffic, the results page becomes a permanently moving target — interface decisions made by continuous testing rather than announced product releases, with third-party observers reduced to reverse-engineering screenshots.
The trend: Search interfaces are moving from fixed, announced designs to quietly tested variants, with users' screenshots becoming the primary channel through which Google's prototypes reach public view.