Google has added colourful flourishes and fresh icons to desktop search results as part of a new design, which was first spotted during testing three months ago.
Google has traditionally favoured basic black on white titles in SERPS, but that will all change with the rollout of a new look featuring icons that light up with red, blue, yellow and green colours when users navigate to different sections such as “News”, “Images”, “Videos” and “More”.
Google came under fire last week for its latest core algorithm, which resulted in some major websites recording a notable drop-off in traffic, so webmasters will be relieved to hear that the latest changes are purely cosmetic.
The wide rollout of Google’s new look is happening right now, so users will be able to see the bold and vibrant design cues from this week onward if they haven’t already.
On the subject of broad algorithm updates, Google’s John Mueller also offered some timely advice in a Webmaster Hangout last week for brands that have seen a slump in traffic since the June update.
Mueller said that it was difficult to hone in specific actions as core updates cover such a broad range of factors, but he believes that content should always serve users’ needs and be useful.
He added: “What we do have is an older blog post from Amit Singhal which covers a lot of questions that you can ask yourself, about the quality of your website. That’s something I always recommend going through. That’s something that I would also go through with people who are not associated with your website.”
