Earlier this month, Google began rolling out a redesigned look for its search results pages. The biggest change was that they moved some navigational features and search filtering options from the left-hand side of the screen to above the search results.
When Google announced it, the company said it was first rolling out in the U.S. and that they would get to other regions as soon as they could. It appears that they’re starting to get to some other regions.
Google said of the new design:
You’ll notice a new simpler, cleaner design on the search results page — we’ve been working on ways to create a consistent search experience across the wide variety of devices and screen sizes people use today. We started with tablets last year, got it to mobile phones a few weeks ago, and are now rolling out to the desktop.
With the new design, there’s a bit more breathing room, and more focus on the answers you’re looking for, whether from web results or from a feature like the Knowledge Graph.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to a Google forum thread where people from outside the U.S. (including in Australia) are indicating that they’re seeing the new design.
We haven’t seen any more announcements from Google about a wider roll out yet, but perhaps we can expect to see one soon.