Google is apparently testing a surprising change to its Google Search results pages, with the blue color of the links that appear in the pages being replaced by black.
In the test, the black body text and green link address are not being changed. That said, it is still considered to be a major move for the company, especially since Google is tinkering with what is its prime product.
The change, which was reported by The Telegraph, will not likely be a permanent one though, as users have taken to Twitter, among various online forums and social media platforms, to voice their disapproval of the change from blue links to black ones.
Google saw my blue links and they've painted them all black,
No colours any more, they want them to turn black! pic.twitter.com/NItnW8NF05— Mark Summerfield (@patentology) May 9, 2016
My google links have turned black, They look horrible. Please turn them back to blue #google pic.twitter.com/hbF5lSkRpS — facelessloser (@facelessloser) May 8, 2016
Seriously Google this black links thing is killing me it's like the guy from Bauhaus is wailing all my search results at me — Gregor Stuart Hunter (@gregorhunter) May 9, 2016
It remains unclear, however, whether Google is doing the test to determine if users would click on black links more than blue ones. The company has previously experimented with colors on its Google Search pages, with the more famous ones being its testing of 41 different shades of blue for links in search results and Gmail advertisements that raked in additional advertising revenue of $200 million for Google.
A Google spokesperson told The Verge that the company is always running small experiments on the search results page design.
"We're not quite sure that black is the new blue," the spokesperson said, hinting that the black links will go away sooner than later.
For some Google Search users though, the change back to blue could not come soon enough.
