Google Adds Black Menu Bar

[indigojo]

Clocked on this morning to see a black menu bar...they should focus on improving the algo I think not the GUI!

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

That shopping link - must draw attention to it!

[netmeg]

That shopping link - must draw attention to it!

No No! Not till I get my feed fixed! ork ork

[azlinda]

Nothing about Google excites me anymore.

[rlange]

I wrote:
I don't know if black really fits Google's "theme", though. It seems out of character.

Uhh. I take that back. I see the other changes on the SERPs sidebar. It fits with the new theme they seem to be going for. Hopefully they've still got some more changes in store to complete the look.

--
Ryan

[Jaze]

anyone else notice a 'block all results from this site' in the serps? Yay, finally a chance to never accidentally click on a BigResource link again.

-- edit = missed closing apostrophe

[johnmoose]

I am now seeing the G home page completely clean.. all options are now moved to the bottom of the page..
crap.. even more mouse movements...

[WorkTogether]

I'm also seeing the display URL moved to just under the search result Title so in Googles search I see

Website Title
Website URL
Website description
(then some direct page links on some results)

[Panthro]

^ yep. Grey header area with the search bar up top, reformatted SERP display, left sidebar links are in grey and red. Starting to look a little more like your average MAF imo.

[lexipixel]

More to the interface update?

Now seeing my "Location" in the lefthand column, (with a "change location" link below).

I am not logged in to any Google account, and they show my correct city/state.

[jimh009]

God I hope that Google doesn't stick with the url right below the title. I find it very annoying. When I see a title in the SERPS, I want to see the snippet first - not where the snippet comes from. I'm finding the new format very unpleasant to use and difficult to "browse." Finally, I find it simply looks awkward.

The rest of the changes (other than the black menu bar) are ok.

Hopefully this is just an A/B testing type thing and someone at the Googleplex will decide to not run with this "new look."

[carguy84]

God I hope that Google doesn't stick with the url right below the title. I find it very annoying. When I see a title in the SERPS, I want to see the snippet first - not where the snippet comes from. I'm finding the new format very unpleasant to use and difficult to "browse." Finally, I find it simply looks awkward.

Exactly this

[flatfile]

With this new SERP layout I seem to pay more attention to the url than before. This might affect clickthrough rate on keyword rich urls. I think it might also negatively affect breadcrumbs because they are not highlighted.

[FranticFish]

I guess I'm the only one who likes it then! I think it's a big improvement.

Looks on a site are never a deal breaker, in fact only a consideration at all if they get in the way of doing what I want to do, but I like this new look myself.

[Panthro]

Not sure why the other thread is locked, but anyway, the new design is growing on me already - but only on a high-resolution, large screen. I think with a 1024x768 resolution, it still bothers me.

[mrguy]

I thought I was on Bing for a minute.

Looks good on Bing so guess it's good enough for Google to.

[Jaze]

I'm with you FranticFish I find the background colours help define the page better. My eyes aren't so lost when trying to find a section/option of the page.

Looks like a good starting point/lead up to Google's integration into a social networking site (of sorts).

[Lowkei]

I find the black bar lose its uniqueness. Google now looks like Bing (to be specified the previous MSN)..

[lucy24]

Is that red line above "Web" supposed to tell you it's currently selected? I had to look at it in two different browsers to make sure it wasn't just my primary browser chopping off part of the picture.

[Shatner]

>>With this new SERP layout I seem to pay more attention to the url than before.

I've noticed a definite uptick in the number of people searching for my URL by name this week, as a search term. Related? Maybe they are noticing more clearly what site these results are coming from and searching directly for that site as a result when they want something else?

Also, I really think the color change to black is just to highlight that bar more... to try and tell people there are more options than just normal Google Search. Google really seems to be trying to push people away from normal search more and more.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Are brown navigation bars and big brown/red links converting better? God I hope not, fugly!

If I had to guess I think it's Google's attempt at differentiating browser navigation bars and the various toolbars people use from their navigation bar. I've seen some toolbars that make Google navigation nearly invisible, well, they used to.

[Roaming Gnome]

I like how it looks. *shrugs*

[michaelj72]

i read a lot here but haven't posted any comments for a long while. most of you guys know far more than I ever will, so i come here to learn....but I wanted to remark on this new look of the serps result page, it's starting to annoy me and for a very simple reason, why should there be 60-70% of the entire page above the fold taken up by ads? at least in the niches where I am searching (that excludes the 1/5 portion on the page to the left column where the Everything, Images, Videos, News etc list is....There are now usually at least 2 and often 3 ads at the top, above the serps/natural search results, and then the ads on the right hand column which have been ubiquitous for ages. I am wondering, is this something new that I am just noticing or is it because of the new design? (which pushes things down even more?) when there are 3 ads in the middle column above the serps, I can make out 2 search results, when there are 2 ads, usually I can make out 3 natural search results. I feel like I'm wathcing american television where there's 13 minutes of commercials every hour... but it's worse! hahaha. I'd laugh but I find this degree of commercialization to be annoying. (and I don't live in the US) It seems I have to scroll down more now to see what I want to see, which is results to my inquiries and not ads......

I don't mind the black menu bar so much I can get used to that. Am I just noticing this change or has this been around for a while or am I being 'overly sensitive'? I even hesitate to post on such a relatively trivial thing compared to what others write about here talk about.

[viralvideowall]

"Maybe it's a black band to show they're in mourning for all of the sites that were slaughtered. ;) "

LOL!

[lucy24]

I've just realized what's so disorienting about that black bar. My browser puts up a similar bar across the top of the window when it wants permission to show a popup. So I see a black bar at the top of my peripheral vision and I think I'm being asked a question that requires a quick decision.