Google has started to roll out a newly redesigned version of its homepage – which is officially the most visited internet address in the world.

The renovated version features a reshaped, flatter logo, with the existing menu bar being replaced by a smaller selection of buttons on the right of the page.

The update comes hot on the heels of similar decisions from rival sites Yahoo and Bing, the latter of which is owned by Microsoft.

A spokesperson from Google explained that further changes would be introduced to the firm’s other products in the coming months.

A recent post on Google’s official blog page suggested that the alterations were part of a drive to simplify the user-experience and remove what it called “distractions” from the page.

One analyst, Sarah Rotman from tech firm Forrester, commented on the decision, saying:

“This is the season for consumer tech updates and whether you sell a product or it’s free everyone wants to look fresh ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

“What they are doing is actually pretty subtle and that’s because these software companies depend on user loyalty – they don’t want to do anything that would alienate their customers.”

Experts have also suggested that the changes may be another sign of the Californian search giant trying to entice more people to sign up to its social networking offering, Google+.

Gartner’s Carolina Milanesi said:

“I do think that there is a move to try to make Google+ more central to everything its users do.

“It might be the case that it is not obvious to some people that they need to click on the box to reveal the firm’s other services.”

In order to use other products like YouTube, Play Store and Google Drive, users must now click on a single icon comprising small squares.

Graeme Parton

Graeme has experience creating content for online sources and for the radio, and at university he studied Multimedia Journalism.