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For the past few weeks I have been hearing reports of Google not underlining the titles of the search results.
That conversation recently seemed to have spiked up and more and more people are now seeing, well - not seeing, the underlined titles in the Google search results.
@andrewchen were some of the few to tweet about this and include a screen capture.
Google search results without underlines:
Google search results with underlines (like most people see them):
At first it I thought this might be some type of extension removing the underlines from the title but with the number of reports I am now seeing, this has to be some type of limited Google usability test.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Caroline Bell
04/28/2011 12:50 pm
IMHO underlines are important for consistency in identifying what text is linked. 'Mystery' links on sites don't aid the user experience. I'm not seeing any benefit in a potential move to none underlined....
Kolemcrae
04/28/2011 02:25 pm
The underline part isn't super important. As long as links are obvious (different colour, size or font) then usability would still be fine. Web designers stopped using underlines in main navigation years ago.
@steveplunkett
04/28/2011 03:45 pm
Different search volumes.. must be many factors
Liza Shulyayeva
04/28/2011 05:10 pm
Much better without the underline, IMO.
Joomla development
04/29/2011 04:52 am
Based on the Geo targeting its gets different search volumes. Thanks for sharing such a valuable information with us
Amazon Coupon
04/29/2011 08:09 am
Yup its better without underline.I like it.
donfelipe
04/29/2011 12:07 pm
Why is Google trying to confuse the readers by not showing the underline?
Luke Jones
05/01/2011 10:00 am
It freaked me out a bit at first, but now I like it.
Joomla Goa
05/02/2011 01:46 am
I do not think that it should be a problem. Google is trying to test out what is better.
Seobot
05/04/2011 10:19 am
Google.co.in - G not underlining the titles but not in the Google.com SERP.
Adam Loving
05/25/2011 06:21 pm
This is happening now to me, and I hate it!