No, your monitor isn't getting smaller.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) is introducing a marginally larger search box, with bigger search-refinement buttons below.
"Although this is a very simple idea and an even simpler change, we're excited about it -- because it symbolizes our focus on search and because it makes our clean, minimalist homepage even easier and more fun to use," explains search exec Marissa Mayer.
Silly me. I thought it symbolizes Google's pronounced girth and its desire to make sure you don't miss out on the opportunity to contribute to Big G's lucrative paid-search business.
It's still the right move. To be fair, you probably wouldn't even notice the change if someone didn't tip you off. This isn't Herve Villechaize turning into Andre the Giant. It's more like trying to tell the Olsen twins apart.
On its own, it's also a seemingly flippant change. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) turned heads with its radical Bing makeover this year, and Google's response is apparently to channel Spinal Tap with a "well, these go to eleven" comeback.
Believe it. When you command more than two-thirds of the country's searches -- as Google does here and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU ) in China -- you don't need to call in the Extreme Makeover: Portal Edition crew. As long as Bing is simply gaining market share at the expense of smaller engines, Google doesn't have to really respond to what Bing, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO ) , or IAC's (Nasdaq: IACI ) Ask.com are doing.
It will be interesting to see whether there are any financial benefits to the marginally larger search box. Will folks be more likely to click on lead-generating ads on the result pages? If not, will it get folks to at least complete more search queries? These are the big questions behind the fractionally bigger Google search box.
With Google still growing during a difficult time that finds lesser players going the other way, it's hard to argue with the company's baby-step approach to evolution.
Big G often makes big headlines:
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