If your home page is set to Google, then you probably would have noticed a flush new Google home page and logo. The changes are not significant, but they do signify Google’s slow progress away from its conventional home page consisting of site links to a new design that integrates advanced search tools and better content types.
Perhaps, the biggest change seen on the updated home page is a new bar on the left-hand side. Unlike the older ‘search options’ bar, the new one is a bit hidden. The users need to click on a ‘show options button in order to see it. As far as the new logo is concerned, there is just a ‘nip and tuck’ job. The minor changes consist of brighter colors and shrunken shadows.
Old (above) and New (below) Google Logo
Different content types are highlighted by the top section of the bar. To view the standard search page, users now have to click on “Everything”. This according to Google is called ‘universal search’, since it now integrates various media types like news, images and music. A user can also turn his focus on specific search types like journals and books. The most relevant search result is highlighted prominently.
Users are also presented with other outstanding search utilities like ‘The wonder wheel’. This tool presents associated search topics in a spherical layout. And users are offered options to explore for ‘something different’. The features such as wonder wheel and shopping tool were already online since some time. The new Google design is actually highlighting these features. And that’s the point of this redesign. It is aimed at making these features more accessible to the casual searcher.
Some think this move is influenced by layout of Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Right from the start, left-hand menus were a prominent element of Microsoft’s search engine.
Jon Wiley, Google’s senior user-experience designer, said,” I think really the biggest changes and sources of innovation really come from an analysis of what our users need. We spend a lot of time just going back to search options or universal search. The way that people have been using those particular tools and features gives us a lot of insight. As the Web becomes a very rich world of content, we have to respond to its changing nature. For content publishers, I think they’re in sort of the same place as always. They’ve got to make sure they provide the best content.”
Of course, the impact of redesign isn’t limited to Google only. Its ripples will be felt worldwide because every web-based company derives its traffic from Google. As such, the question remains: Do website publishers now have to restructure their strategies regarding online marketing?