Google is finally taking another step in making all of its products visually ubiquitous. The desktop search results have started receiving the material design treatment and are now rolling out to users across the globe. We’re now able to access the new look on both google.co.in and google.com.
For those unaware, Material design is the visual guideline which has been defined by Google alongside the launch of Android Lollipop back in 2014. The tech behemoth has since started redesigning all of its apps and services based on the said guidelines – defined here. Android and Chrome OS have been first in line to receive the upgrades but Google has been updating its web platforms rather steadily.
The Material design overhaul of the search page was first spotted back in June, where Google’s test layout displayed separate cards for each search result. It was a pretty clean and minimalistic layout inspired by the native Google app on Android. 
But, the official layout rolling out to search users keeps the same theme and design language of the previous design intact. The contrasting white and gray shades for the search results page is still the same, only certain changes to the search bar, and cards (both Twitter and Top Stories) have been introduced.
As for the news items, Google has clubbed them under an exclusive ‘Top News’ section amid the search results. The rectangular card with shadow placement makes the topic look clean and prominently placed amid all the chaos of different results. You also have access to other news pieces, which are hidden within a ‘more news for [topic]’ link underneath these results. 
In addition, the tech behemoth is continuing its partnership with Twitter, which started off in 2015. It gave Google access to the complete firehose of information from the micro-blogging platform. Thus, the tweets displayed in the search results have also been given the material design treatment and are now displayed in the form of cards. It displays the three most recent tweets in the search results.
From what we’ve witnessed, the roll out of this new Material design layout is still incomplete and finicky. The search results and layout differ based on your location. We’re unable to see Google’s Knowledge Graph results, which are displayed using the information-dense cards that pop up alongside certain search results on the Indian(.co.in) website. But the same are being displayed just fine on the global (.com) website. It appears the tech behemoth is following a slow roll out schedule, segregated even on the basis of features.
No matter what, this refreshed look for the search results is a welcome change that should’ve arrived sooner. Google is also testing a refreshed look for its widely popular video streaming platform YouTube. It could most likely be next in line to receive a material design treatment in the coming months.
