Google Moves Away From Large Navigation Drop Down Menu

A few months ago, Google introduced a new navigation bar that was black and very large. It was part of the Google+ changes across Google’s properties.

Last night, Google announced yet another change to that top bar navigation. The most noticeable change is that most of the main search options are back at the top, placing the less ‘important’ search options in a more menu. This new user interface is a lot like the previous Google look, but keeping with the Google+ features at the top right.

Here are before and after pictures.

Before:

After:

Google said they made these changes based on user feedback and added:

The new design retains many of the feature changes we made in November that proved popular, including a unified search box and Google+ sharing and notifications across Google. The biggest change is that we’ve replaced the drop-down Google menu with a consistent and expanded set of links running across the top of the page.

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About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.