Google backtracks on search results design (techcrunch.com)

Article summary

Google has backtracked on its recent redesign of search results after facing criticism from politicians, consumers, and the press. The redesign made ads and search results look identical, which was seen as a way for Google to increase its advertising revenue. Google has announced that it will experiment further to improve the search results design. The company's decision to redesign the search results was likely driven by its desire to increase advertising revenue, as its advertising revenues are not growing as quickly as they used to.

Main themes

• Google search results redesign
• advertising revenue
• user experience
• design changes
• Chrome URL bar
• Google's business model
• user feedback
• search as a platform

What commenters say

• The new design made it harder to distinguish between ads and search results, which was seen as a deliberate attempt to increase ad clicks.
• Some users found the new design to be confusing and difficult to use, while others had gotten used to it.
• The design change was likely driven by Google's desire to increase its advertising revenue, rather than a genuine attempt to improve the user experience.
• The removal of the editable URL bar in Chrome was seen as a user-hostile change that made it harder to edit URLs.
• Some users argued that the change was not a big deal and that editing URLs is not a common use case.
• Others argued that the change was part of a larger trend of Google prioritizing advertising revenue over user experience.
• The design change was also seen as an example of Google's increasing focus on search as a revenue-generating platform, rather than a neutral information provider.
• Some users expressed frustration with the constant changes to Google's products and the lack of consideration for user feedback and preferences.