The Hidden Google Search Box

It seems as if Google is testing hiding the search box completely from the Google search results page.

A post in a Google+ Community by Tom Johns spotted this first. He said he was using a beta version of Chrome, and when he searched, the only way to submit a search query at Google was to do so in the Omnibox built into Chrome.

Here is a picture of how Google’s search results page looks without the search box:

You can replicate this yourself by adding some URL parameters to the Google search URL. For example, here is how you can search for [google] on Google without the search box.

It is believed that Google is testing this for Chrome, but I do not have confirmation on this test as of yet.

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• Confirmed: Google Moving Search Options Above Results
• Google Mobile’s New Slide Out Black Navigation Bar
• Google Testing Search Options Listed Above Results, Rather Than To Side
• Google Confirms Hidden Benefit Of Authorship: Bonus Links After A Back-Button Click
• Confirmed: Google’s Expandable Knowledge Graph Test

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.