Google testing new search menu with icons for maps, news, shopping and more

Google is testing a new search bar menu with icons next to the names of the search categories. So instead of just showing the search vertical filters for displaying news results or image results, Google is showing icons next to those categories.

Screenshot of the test. Here is a screen shot of this new user interface test provided by @YoungbloodJoe:

Screenshot of current design. Here is what most searchers currently see when going to Google:

Can you see it? We cannot replicate this test here but Google is constantly testing new user interfaces.

If you can see this, please let us know on Twitter @sengineland.

Going back in time. Google had icons next to these search filters back in 2010 on desktop and 2011 on mobile. But in 2011 Google removed the icons from the desktop version. Google has made many changes to their top bar over the years, much of which you can find in our user interfaces archives.

Why it matters. Any change to the user interface of one of the most used web sites in the world will be noticed. Will it impact search marketers or SEOs? Probably not but it does give a new fresh look to the Google search results page.

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.