Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is testing a less complicated search outcomes web page with “ten blue hyperlinks” in some elements of Europe, particularly for resort queries.
- This implies much less richness in outcomes and extra direct hyperlinks, usually to journey aggregators.
- The check is in response to calls for from some websites and goals to grasp person expertise and site visitors influence.
To say that Google Search has advanced through the years could be a giant understatement. We’ve gone from search outcomes being a group of internet hyperlinks to look outcomes providing wealthy and contextual information that served our wants very properly to AI summaries with a hallucination downside which can be a lot better when turned off. When you’re lacking a few of that old-world Google attraction, Google is testing going again to the “ten blue hyperlinks” format for sure searches in sure areas, albeit reluctantly.
Google has introduced that it’s operating a “quick check” on the way it shows search ends in the European Union. For customers in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, Google Search will take away the wealthy outcomes round accommodations and revert to a hyperlink record of internet sites just like the previous “ten blue hyperlinks” format from the early days of Google.
The Verge has screenshots of Google Search outcomes earlier than the change and after the modifications underneath the check:
The aim of this check is to grasp the influence on person expertise and site visitors to web sites with such drastic modifications. As Google mentions, this transfer comes as some websites proceed to demand extra modifications in Google Search, reminiscent of an entire ban on something richer than a easy blue hyperlink to an internet site.
Google says that it has already eliminated helpful options from the search outcomes web page, reminiscent of flight data, and decreased the performance of a few of its clickable maps. These modifications have benefited giant on-line journey aggregators and comparability websites however made it more durable for airways, resort operators, and small retailers to achieve clients.
Whereas Google is portraying the change as a reluctant change, the search outcomes web page appears to be like cleaner to me and is paying homage to how we used Google Search previously. The wealthy outcomes have aggregators on the highest and a map on the underside (presumably linking to particular person listings the place possible, thus leaving aggregators out of the equation). In distinction, the easier outcomes all go to aggregators who’ve seemingly web optimization’ed their technique to the primary web page of search outcomes.
Much less tech-savvy customers could not like this modification, however when you grew up “studying” learn how to Google Search, you’d respect the change, which might imply much less spoonfeeding and extra looking.
Google has but to share particulars on how lengthy the check will run or whether or not it is going to develop to different markets or search queries. The corporate says that outcomes will return to regular as soon as the check ends.
Do you just like the plain blue hyperlinks search outcomes web page? Or do you like wealthy outcomes? Tell us within the feedback beneath!