Google Search dark mode on the web goes completely black in a new test

The dark gray shade stays in place, but the new pitch-black theme sits alongside it.

What you need to know

• Google is experimenting with a pitch-black dark theme for Search on the desktop web.
• The darker shade shows up for the search results page, while Google's homepage retains the dark gray color.
• The test is available only to a small group of users for the time being.

Google Search finally rolled out support for dark mode on the web in September of last year after several months of testing. While it isn't the pitch-black theme that some would have preferred, the feature was still a welcome addition, reducing eye strain and saving battery life.

Now, the search giant may be planning an even deeper shade of dark theme for Search on the desktop web. According to 9to5Google, the company is testing a pitch-black dark mode with a small set of users.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the new theme appears completely black in comparison to the dark gray shade that is currently available to everyone using Search on the web across desktop and mobile devices, including the best Android phones.

It's worth noting that the pitch-black dark mode only applies to search results pages. This means that the experiment has no effect on Google's homepage, which remains dark gray.

The experimental dark theme also changes the color of links to a darker blue than the current design. It also appears that the test is a random one, so it's unclear which regions have access to Search's pitch-black dark mode.

Those who are not a part of the testing can stick with the current dark theme. If you haven't already, you can enable dark mode in Search for desktop by following these steps.

That said, it remains to be seen when and if the darker shade of dark mode rolls out to everyone in the future.