For the first time in 25 years: Google redesigns the search box

For the first time in 25 years, Google is changing the look and functionality of its search box. For a quarter century, the Google search box has been one of the most recognizable interfaces in computing: a thin white rectangle, a blinking cursor, a few typed words, and a list of blue links. On Tuesday, at its annual I/O developer conference, Google announced a sweeping redesign of that paradigm.

The new search box dynamically expands to accommodate longer, more conversational queries. It now accepts not only text but also images, PDFs, videos, and even open Chrome tabs as inputs. The company is also merging its AI Overviews and AI Mode features into a single, seamless search flow, eliminating the friction that previously forced users to choose between a traditional results page and an AI-forward experience.

Liz Reid, Google's vice president and head of Search, called it "the biggest upgrade to our iconic search box since its debut over 25 years ago" during a press briefing on Monday.

The announcement arrived alongside a flurry of other news — new Gemini models, a personal AI agent called Spark, an intelligent shopping cart, a reimagined developer platform — but the search box redesign may prove to be the most consequential. It is the clearest signal yet that Google views the future of its flagship product not as a place where users type fragmented keywords, but as an interface where they hold open-ended, multimodal conversations with an AI system backed by the entire web.

The changes show a fundamental shift in how Google expects people to interact with the product that generates the vast majority of Alphabet's revenue. While the old interface subtly encouraged brevity — a narrow field suited to two- or three-word keyword strings — the new design invites users to fully articulate complex questions.