Google Layout Testing: Brighter blue, brighter green - and more margin
This time, they are trying to bring focus on the search results page back to what should be their primary activity. Search. Above the "Everything" label, they aded the word Search, and have aligned the estimate number of results and the time it took to find them with that word. Nice thought, but it moved the results so far down that I don't think that part of the design change will make it.
Perhaps if they'd move the "Did you mean" and "Search instead for" like actions into the same area it could work. But now, it just appears like a lot of lost blank space.
A change which could be good to take along to the new layout is the new set of colours. Previously, they tested with a colour blue that made me doubt my screen and glasses - but this time they found a nice and bright blue, a bright green for the URL's and a slightly softened red. This really puts the focus back to the search results, where the currently active layout tends to direct the users's attention too much all over the place.
See a side-by-side comparison below (click to enlarge).
Unfortunately, I accidentally closed my browser before I could start to really click around, so I don't know what happens for example when you click on the word "Search", or what happens to the sidebar when you choose one of the categories to search within.