Google tests gray background on homepage, while Yahoo tests new top search bar

Both Google and Yahoo were caught testing new user interfaces around their search features. Here are screen shots of both of them.

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Rubén Gómez from All Google Testing captured Google testing a gray background color on their homepage and also spotted Yahoo testing a new top search bar.

Google homepage test

The gray Google homepage, he says, comes from a Material design look, which we actually covered a couple of weeks ago. But he captured that Google is testing a slightly updated home page.

The most noticeable change is that the background color is being tested in gray versus white. The search box is slightly larger and more spaced out.

Here is a screen shot from Ruben:

google-home-page-gray-1465304286

This is the standard white version that we all see:

google-home-page-white-1465304286

Yahoo search bar test

Meanwhile, Yahoo is currently testing a new top search bar. The new bar is also larger and more spacious. It removes the purple color, drops out the “search” text from the search button and replaces it with a magnifying glass icon.

Here is the test version:

yahoo-search-bar-test-1465303139

Here is what you and I would see, the live version:

yahoo-search-bar-now-1465303139


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a technologist and 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.

In 2019, Barry was awarded the Outstanding Community Services Award from Search Engine Land, in 2018 he was awarded the US Search Awards the "US Search Personality Of The Year," you can learn more over here and in 2023 he was listed as a top 50 most influential PPCer by Marketing O'Clock.

Barry can be followed on X here and you can learn more about Barry Schwartz over here or on his personal site.

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