Google considering black links for search results
11 May 2016
Google is considering changing the colour of links in search results from blue to black.
The search giant had been testing black search result links internationally since Friday or Saturday, The SEMPost reported. Links clicked earlier would be coloured a light shade of gray, instead of the current purple.
It remained unclear as to whether Google would roll out black links to all users; the search giant is known to test visual tweaks among a small percentage of its users. It once experimented with 41 shades of blue to determine which provoked the most clicks.
But many test subjects are not happy with the change, with several Google help forums now filled with grievances. The Telegraph reported, that some users had taken to Twitter to express their frustration.
Users complain that it was too hard to tell the difference between clicked and unclicked links.
If Google does not decide to make the black links permanent, test subjects would see their links restored to blue and purple. In the meantime, some users report that logging out and back into their Google accounts, or resetting Chrome settings, might restore the old look.
Meanwhile, Google told The Verge, "We're always running many small-scale experiments with the design of the results page. We're not quite sure that black is the new blue."
According to commentators, it was not certain whether the company was simply testing the colour, or if the colour had anything to do with the type of link being displayed, the type of user seeing the link, or what that user was searching.
However, if the change were to expand to more than a select few people, it could signal some radical changes to the Google search results page, they say.
