Google explains search page design overhaul

Google said the changes reflected the growing sophistication of users' search habits

Google has provided more details about the recent changes to its search results page.

Jon Wiley, senior user experience designer at Google, said in a blog post that the new layout is an effort to meet the "rising expectations for search" from increasingly web savvy users.

"As the web has evolved over the past decade, people have been typing more sophisticated searches and seeking specialised search tools to match. Our goal was to take a design known by millions of people and make it better," he said.

Wiley also explained that Google had spent a lot of time working on the left-hand navigation panel in order to offer the best balance of additional functionality without distracting from the primary search results.

"Using the lessons from Search Options introduced last May, designers, researchers and engineers worked to explore a vast array of possibilities for a permanently open panel of search tools," he said.

"We made hundreds of prototypes and gathered feedback from user studies, Googlers and experiments. In the end, we came up with a design that provides dynamic, relevant search tools on the left, while lightening and updating the aesthetics all around."

Marisa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, said at the unveiling of the new design that it "refreshes and streamlines the look, feel and functionality of Google, making it easier to pinpoint what you're looking for".