Google Cleans Up URL Presentation On Mobile Devices

If you’ve tried to search on Google using your phone, the results will sometimes display the URL of the website, but given that our mobile devices have smaller screens compared to our desktops, the URLs are sometimes cut off so you don’t really get to see the entire URL or know what it is that you’re clicking.

Google has recognized this to be an issue and has updated its URL presentation in its search results, which you can see in the screenshot above. The image on the left is how Google used to display its URL in search results, and the right screenshot is the new way. As you can see, Google has organized it in a neater manner so that users know which section of a particular website they are visiting.

Of course this won’t matter to certain websites which might not have different categories or layers, but a good example is Wikipedia, shopping, or company websites in which there are many pages and categories that a user might have to go through to access a particular page. As Google has noted on its website, these changes are being rolled out gradually and it is only applicable for mobile search.

This means that if you don’t see the changes in your desktop search, it’s because it’s not meant for desktop. Google has also pointed out that the site name change is US-only for now but it is expected to make its way worldwide soon.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, Web
Tags: Google