Google experimenting with new search interface?

Google has put on its lab coat and turned on the Bunsen burner for an experiment in refined searches, according to a video captured by a Spanish tech site.

The search giant is currently "testing new ways to refine searches," perhaps including a sidebar-free interface, going by the video that appears on the Spanish language Tecno-Net site (see the video below).

The video showcases a new, more vertically oriented Google search page with the section titles placed at the top of the page, as opposed to their typical left-side position. The video displays search filters like "all results" and "any time" as a dropdown menu at the top of the screen.

Google hasn't confirmed the validity of the video, which is labeled as a "New Google Interface Test" posted to YouTube on Wednesday, but a Google spokeswoman did say that new elements are currently being tested on the site. The company is "constantly experimenting with new features," she said.

Google occasionally runs live tests of new features on its flagship search engine in an effort to keep adapting the interface to users' needs.

"There's no good substitute for understanding how real people, in real-world situations, actually operate," Google's Ambar Pansari and Marissa Mayer note in an official blog post from 2006 that explains the company's live testing practices and "beta"-driven culture.