Early Verdict on Google Makeover: Ugly

A number of people opened up their browsers on Saturday to find that their chosen search engine has had a makeover. Google is experimenting with yet another overhaul of its design -- and no, it's not more logo fun (although those do seem to be becoming a daily affair).
The changes are in the all-important results pages, the very heart of Google's usefulness. It's a fairly drastic change, all things considered; the pages are less cluttered, with noticeably wider spacing and row heights. The colors, not exactly garish to begin with, are even less intense than before.

A second glance reveals even more striking details: no underlined links, no 'Cached' and 'Similar' links after the bottom-row address listing, and each individual result is separated with a faint but noticeable dashed line.

Not everyone has experienced the changes; one of Google's characteristic methods is to test changes on relatively few users at a time. However, a number of early (though inadvertent) adopters have seen enough to voice their complaints.

The spacing has one very obvious drawback for many users: fewer results can be seen without scrolling; the 'fold' of the page at all resolutions contains fewer results. This has immediate implications for Search Engine Optimization -- your #5 result may now require scrolling, and your #8 result may find itself on the unenviable second page.

More users are critical of the aesthetic value of the changes; the word 'ugly' has been used more than once, but 'stark', 'sparse', and even 'boring' are even more common. In Google's defense, one may argue that the search engine has always favored -- and seen considerable success with -- copious white space and elegant simplicity (although that has certainly fluctuated somewhat in recent years).

It may be worth noting that the fast-rising Chinese search engine Baidu, currently beating Bing but trailing Yahoo in worldwide market share, has a VERY similar approach to the 'classic' Google look -- with, if anything, even more simplified home and results pages.

Still, change entails risks, whether the change ultimately turns out to be for better for worse. Google is all too aware of the looming threat to the decade-plus-long dominance of the PC-based Internet browser. An increasing segment of their attention is turning toward solutions for mobile devices and specialized search applications, while new search engine models such as Blekko and even Yahoo (e.g., their Infinite Search option) are gaining considerable attention. The pressure may be on for Google to develop radical ways to retain the status that made "googling" a common verb.
Source http://www.ibtimes.com/