Spotted in the Wild: Google Up/Down SERP Arrows

If you think your cursor is in one place, but it’s actually controlling those little arrows, it gets confusing when the search results start scrolling and you visit random websites.

But they’re kinda useful when you remember they’re there.

I find it very useful to quickly navigate between results and hit enter to go to the page. Backspace and I am back on google result page, up/down and I am on another result.
It’s a usability measure and it saves you time from switching from keyboard to mouse. They are big on making things faster.

I am not seeing them anymore so it was probably a test. The “remember they’re there” part is where I think they lose value. Most people will not even notice them. It’s for a power user.

Shimon, my hand is basically fully integrated with the Mac touch pad so I found it to be a slight shift in my flow. Once I committed to it, it was fun to use, but a finger swipe is much easier.

Andrew, I disagree. You type in google.com, then type in the query, all with two hands, hit enter, then what happens? either you keep your hands on the keyboard for another quick action (arrows and enter) or you have to move your hand back to touchpad.

I rarely type “Google.com” into the browser any more 🙂

I hear you though. Still would require a change from my current behavior. Old dog-new tricks, etc.

Am I blind? I don’t see any up or down arrows in that screenshot above (other than the More dropdown arrow).

Well Andrew, it is their experiment option but I think now they are rolling it on live site. If you opt for experiment while login you can see those arrows.

Duh, never mind. Up and Down arrow keys, Donna, keys. Like on your keyboard, goofball. Forget I was here. 🙂

No worries Donna – my screengrab skills leave a bit to be desired

The first time I noticed these arrows was about two months ago and was also unintentionally. However, I’ve totally forgot about them as they are rather useless (imho), but it’s interesting that I’m not the only one who has seen them.

Hi, in the UK this has been out for about 3 months or maybe longer.. Not sure why you are only seeing this now?

I have actually been seeing a lot of activity from Google lately and their serp design. Looks like the are gearing up for some new changes soon.

I’ve seen them for awhile, although I prefer using the mouse to navigate the SERPs over the keyboard.

I can’t remember how long ago I started seeing those arrows, but it feels like about a year. If it hasn’t been that long it has been quite a while. I don’t recall ever opting-in to any experiment either. I was under the impression that it was a new feature that had been rolled out to everyone. Anyway, they are quite cool and handy.

I have seen the same. No one use keyboard to navigate.

Ramin

Good to see this different one but still prefer to use mouse.

I also seen the same thing, some one use keyboard to navigate. But i prefer mouse to use.