Google redesign april 2010
Google UK is showing a new “bing-like” interface in search results pages. We noticed the change on 16th April but as yet there seems to be little in the way of acknowledgement from Google or any buzz anywhere else to corroborate the rollout of new GUI.
The new interface now sports a number of new features such as 3d form buttons, a left hand side bar, highlighting and graphical icons to name but a few.
The new interface however, does not seem to have surfaced across the globe yet. We’re seeing it in our Edinburgh office but not in our London office. Reports from clients accross the country are mixed with some seeing it and others still experiencing the old inteface in search.
One thing that is common is that it is only appearing on IE browsers. We have “straw polled” our clients and none are seeing it on any of the other browsers so this may point to Google doing some kind of split testing on IE before rolling it out to the rest of the browsers.
Reaction from those of our clients who are currently seeing the new interface is a unanimous thumbs down. Features such as the radio buttons to switch bewteen pages from the web and pages from the UK has been replaced by a text link nested in the left hand sidebar. All clients made reference to this new change and we also have to agree that it was much simpler to click the radio button on the classic version.
On the whole our clients have said that navigating round the new GUI is much less intuitive, frustrating and slower.
New Google Sidebar
The new sidebar now shows highlighting, icons and serveral “sort by” features giving the user several ways to find more accurate results but are they actually making life any better for the searcher?
To our eye, it seems like a poorly designed database interface. Sort by filters are commonly placed on top of columns such as those in a spreadsheets or highly visible forms on a web page, so it’s a little puzzling to us why these would be hidden in a collapsible section of the sidebar. It kind of defeats the purpose and we’re not alone in our opinion as our straw poll indicated.
Interestingly, when you look at such things from Google, it’s easy to not see the wood for the trees and clients can surprise you with the simplest of comments. For example, first impression feedback we received from a few clients was highly supicious of the new changes, citing that the new Google GUI was designed to keep people on the site longer so that more people would click on the sponsored links. No doubt, conpsriacy theorists will agree with such observations and this may turn out to be true in time. Certainly, the perception of Adwords amongst the majority of our clients has been less than favourable of late. Many are blaming the unreliable results and the number of totally irrelevant USA/dot com sites appearing in UK search as a way to boost Google’s Adwords take up and they see the new interface as yet another way for Google to force businesses into going down this route.. Google do earn their revenue from advertising so maybe there’s a “debate-worthy” article on the back of this.
Other new changes include a localisation feature. 
Whilst this may be of use to many on a local search, the question is…will it have implications in search when seeking national or international companies to deal with or sell to? This is one area where we will be keeping a close eye on Google’s tinkering and we intend to conduct a few experiments to explore variations in search.
If it ain’t broke….
It’s obviously early days for Google’s new interface but no doubt many questions will arise as to why the change was needed at all. The classic Google GUI has stood the test of time and this is undoubtedly what has made Google so popular in the first place. Tinkering with interfaces, adding sidebars and complicating how we interact with Google in our opinion is the wrong thing to do. We just want search results and this new GUI seems very much like adding corners to a wheel.
As the saying goes….if it ain’t broke then don’t try and fix it!
I saw it too…in California. I was using Firefox, and it would not show up on IE. This is the first article I’ve found about it!
Hi Guys – I’ve been searching everywhere for stuff on this. Nothing coming up in Google or anywhere. I’m seeing it also. Good spot!
@mr Ed, Joe, Sandy – seems to be very sporadic and there’s nothing comning out from Google that we can find anywhere. We first noticed it round about last Thursday in the office. Everyone else in our building was seeing it too – certainly in Edinburgh. Clients in Glasgow were not seeing it. The overiding consensus is that it’s not very popular. Not one of our clients in our straw poll liked the changes.
Interesting stuff @googleconsiracyguy. We’ve yet to get a positive comment in favour of the new interface. When we do, we’ll definitely make sure its posted.
UPDATE: You can remove it and revert back to the old interface if it’s causing your problems.
In IE – Internet Options -> Privacy -> Sites then add Google.co.uk to your list of sites not allowed to use Cookies.
We’d also recommend deleting cookies from your browsing history. Internet Options -> Browsing History -> Delete all
Restart your browser and normal service will be resumed.
We don’t know if this will work if and when Google rolls out the new interface across the globe. We might be screwed after that.