According to various reports, instead of the traditional blue, Google seems to experiment with black search result links.
On Monday, May 9, The Telegraph noticed that the search results displayed by Google's online search engine are showing black links. Because the structure and formatting of the Google search results page is among the most user-tested in the history of the Internet, any change may come as a bit of surprise.
A number of Twitter users also reported seeing Google's experiment in action. According to The Verge, behind this test might hide some very pragmatic reasons. Any change in search results' color may translate in millions in ad revenue.
The majority of users are seeing 10 URLs in green and respectively 10 links listed in blue when typing a word or phrase into Google. However, some users are now seeing link names in black.
It is still unclear if Google makes this experiment with the purpose to determine whether users click more on black-colored search results than on blue ones. This is not the first time when Google would test its search result page. Previously, the company has already tested in real time various colors of its search results page with hundreds of millions of web users.
For instance, the current navigation tab was highlighted with a small red line until last year, but now it is blue. Back in the year 2009, Google tested 41 different shades of blue for search result links and Gmail ads. Following the experiment, the company was able to gain an extra $200 million a year in ad revenue.
Google did not comment much on the current test. A Google spokesperson said only that the company is always running numerous small-scale experiments with the results page's design. He added that it is still not sure if the black color will become a standard for the search results, since the company is still tracking and analyzing the click-through rates.