--- title: Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look: Black Links description: Google was testing the appearance of its search results on a small number of users Monday, swapping the traditional blue links for black canonical: https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-10T14:35:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:49:58.308Z article:section: Business og:title: Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look og:description: Is black the new blue? og:url: https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd691457c2b6e69b8/69889291a988cadad56b7ca2/google-links.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Google Updates Its Logo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look twitter:description: Is black the new blue? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd691457c2b6e69b8/69889291a988cadad56b7ca2/google-links.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 10, 2016 2:35 PM CUT  The new Google logo is displayed at the Google headquarters on Sept. 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California. The new Google logo is displayed at the Google headquarters on Sept. 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 10, 2016 2:35 PM CUT Google [tested the appearance](http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/10/technology/google-change-color-search-results-black/index.html "undefined") of its search results for a small number of users Monday, swapping the traditional blue links that appear in a Google search for black links. “We’re always running many small scale experiments with the design of the results page,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement, [CNN Money reported](http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/10/technology/google-change-color-search-results-black/index.html "undefined"). Many people who were among the unsuspecting test subjects for the change voiced their frustration with the color swap on social media. It’s not clear if the change is here to stay. “We’re not quite sure that black is the new blue,” the Google spokesperson said. > [](https://twitter.com/Hyper200/status/729588944229310466) > [](https://twitter.com/patentology/status/729534692597243904) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/"},"headline":"Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look","datePublished":"2016-05-10T14:35:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:49:58.308Z","description":"\"We're not quite sure that black is the new blue\"","url":"https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/","keywords":["Tech","Google"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd691457c2b6e69b8/69889291a988cadad56b7ca2/google-links.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd691457c2b6e69b8/69889291a988cadad56b7ca2/google-links.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Google Updates Its Logo","caption":"Google Updates Its Logo","creditText":"Justin Sullivan/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4324430/google-blue-black-links-experiment/","name":"Google Is Testing a Big Change to Its Look"}}]}] ```