Google is going back to "10 blue links" for these searches, and I don't hate it

To say that Google Search has evolved over the years would be a big understatement. We’ve gone from search results being a collection of web links to search results offering rich and contextual data that served our needs very well to AI summaries with a hallucination problem that are much better when turned off. If you’re missing some of that old-world Google charm, Google is testing going back to the “ten blue links” format for certain searches in certain regions, albeit reluctantly.

Google has announced that it is running a “short test” on how it displays search results in the European Union. For users in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, Google Search will remove the rich results around hotels and revert to a link list of websites similar to the old “ten blue links” format from the early days of Google.

The Verge has screenshots of Google Search results before the change and after the changes under the test:

The purpose of this test is to understand the impact on user experience and traffic to websites with such drastic changes. As Google mentions, this move comes as some sites continue to demand more changes in Google Search, such as a complete ban on anything richer than a simple blue link to a website.

Google says that it has already removed useful features from the search results page, such as flight information, and reduced the functionality of some of its clickable maps. These changes have benefited large online travel aggregators and comparison sites but made it harder for airlines, hotel operators, and small retailers to reach customers.

While Google is portraying the change as a reluctant change, the search results page looks cleaner to me and is reminiscent of how we used Google Search in the past. The rich results have aggregators on the top and a map on the bottom (possibly linking to individual listings where feasible, thus leaving aggregators out of the equation). In contrast, the simpler results all go to aggregators who have likely SEO’ed their way to the first page of search results.

Less tech-savvy users may not like this change, but if you grew up “learning” how to Google Search, you’d appreciate the change, which would mean less spoonfeeding and more hunting.

Google has yet to share details on how long the test will run or whether it will expand to other markets or search queries. The company says that results will return to normal once the test ends.

Do you like the plain blue links search results page? Or do you prefer rich results? Let us know in the comments below!