Google is testing a radical change by turning all links black

Google users have noticed that search results are showing as black instead of the normal blue.

Google has a long history of testing out tweaks on its search results page, the company’s cash cow.

The change means users are unable to tell whether they have visited a link or not, a design choice that can be found across the web.

Have your Google search results looked different lately? Unless you’re in China, that is, in which case you see red ones. All of the usual blue text on Google’s results is replaced with a lightened shade of black in the experiment.

If Google is testing the feature with the public, it has a reason for making the change though.

Users began reporting the visual change on Sunday, suggesting that Google is embarking on one of its famous “A/B tests”. The outcome added $200 million to Google’s revenue. As a result we learned that a slightly purpler shade of blue was more conducive to clicking than a slightly greener shade of blue, and gee whizz, we made a decision. In the meantime, some users report that logging out and back into their Google accounts, or resetting Chrome settings, may restore the old look. So it comes as a bit of surprise that Google would tinker with its prized jewel in one small but noticeable fashion: turning the color of links black.

But this is the not the first time Google has played with its colour schemes.