HubShout | Online Marketing Solutions

Google rolled out a refresh of its Search Engine Results pages (thus far in the US only) -- moving the toolbar to the top of the screen. Google said the new design is to give users some breathing room to focus on what they are looking for. The knowledge graph and paid search ads are more prominent.

TechCrunch:
Google Makes Its New Search Results Design Without Sidebar Official, Gives Results “More Breathing Room”

B2B Community:
New Google SERP Changes Make Ads More Prominent than Ever, Cannibalize Organic Search for Informational Queries

Wow. I did a few searches. Looks like the 2nd and 3rd organic slots are now sometimes below the fold depending on the search term. It will be interesting to see where Google goes with this.

I can't say that I really felt "cramped" on the old Google search page. TBH, I've been using the new one without really noticing that it had changed. The only thing that clued me in was that the "news" search is now hidden under "more." Maybe that makes me a bad Googler...?

As long as you click on their ads, they are happy to have you.

Most of the time I resist! :)