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Back in March, Google launched their redesigned search results page, which removed the yellow background color for the ads and gave things a bit more spacing. Jon Wiley from Google said then the new design "improves readability and creates an overall cleaner look."
But, not surprisingly, most of you dislike the new design. With over 600 responses, 59% of you said you do not like the new design. 25% of you did like the new design. 10% were not sure if they liked it or not and 6% just don't care.
With any major design change to anything on Google, be it their logo, search results, or other properties, most people dislike it. People dislike change.
Forum discussion continued at Google+ & Google Web Search Help.
This post was scheduled to be posted today but was written at an earlier point in time. The author is not around on June 4th or 5th to respond to comments.
Comments:
Durant Imboden
06/04/2014 03:51 pm
I liked the old style when it worked. Unfortunately, the background color wasn't always visible. On my laptop, for example, it was a pale shade of peach that nearly blended into the page background. The new "Ad" graphics are easier to see.
ethalon
06/04/2014 04:23 pm
Google: Still beats Bing and Yahoo for distinguishing ads from organic ranking.
wertwert
06/04/2014 07:45 pm
No they don't... search used cars on a laptop and see 1 organic result above the fold in the bottom left of the screen... it is as bad as it can get if the only criteria is that at least 1 organic result should appear on screen after a search.
Dave Fowler
06/05/2014 09:09 am
I think the division between ads and organic listings is much less obvious now, especially where universal search results are displayed, and I suspect this 'blurring of the lines' is deliberate. That's not Google-hating, it's just no surprise that Google want to generate more revenue from it's users. I have no strong feelings toward new or old style. Love your blanket interpretation of the results, BTW, tho' for the record I love change :)
James
06/05/2014 09:25 am
Like a lot of changes, I was not sure to start with, but now I think I prefer it. I've got used to the "Ad" notices and think they are clearer than before, particularly as the background colour they used before could not be seen on many screens, it was so pale.
ethalon
06/05/2014 11:50 am
Not at all what I am seeing, but maybe you have a much smaller screen. But regardless, I was talking about how easy it is to see the result and distinguish if it is an ad or not. Yahoo has the color shading and it is almost impossible to make out the different shading...and the border around the results doesn't act like a card like it does in Bing, which is better than Yahoo but worse than Google at making an ad obvious. Like Google and its paid results or not, you need to be honest about how difficult the engines make it to distinguish paid from organic.