mslina2002 - 11:07 am on Sep 11, 2012 (gmt 0)

Today I saw a redesigned search result page on google.com when I was at the local university, I don't see it from home. There was no left side panel(with images/maps/news, change location, search tools, ect.), instead everything was put in dropdown lists right above the results and below the search box. Is this new, did anyone else see this before? I had an impression that it was undeveloped because I couldn't see the number of pages G found for the query.

I reported that 3 days ago as well on Sept 7 on pg 3: [webmasterworld.com...]

Google page has changed its layout. Left column moved to top tab, so that all results are shifted to the left and Adwords is more towards the center, closer to the hotspot. Also number of SERPs results are gone. Unless it is also hidden and I can't find it!

Seems that not everyone is seeing it. I saw it only for that one day and it went away. They are probably AB testing to see how well it works. My take is that it will most likely not good for organic listings but good for Adwords and Advertisers conversions.

For a site search I always look at the number of G queries and for them to hide that would be a real *&^()@! I hope they don't do away with it. If they do, you will have no way of knowing how many pages are indexed, size of data pool, etc. For the site:example.com for example I know G always tells you it is an estimate and not an exact number but at least it gives you an idea e.g. 1,000,000 versus 1,000 pages in the index.