New Changes are Designed To Increase Branding & Help Searchers Differentiate Ads
The latest change to mobile search results pages will be rolling out soon according to a post from Google. They are adding in a favicon to mobile search page results, as well as changing ad links from green to black as a way to improve the user’s experience (and more ad clicks).
According to Google, these changes will help a company’s branding be more prominently displayed, giving searchers a better understanding of what they might expect after they click.
The largest change that you may notice is the addition of a favicon to the results page. Favicon’s should be a staple to any website, they are the small icons that you’ll see on your browser’s tab, and soon in mobile search results.
Next Steps for You
If your WordPress site doesn’t have a Favicon, and it should, your next step should be adding one in. This post from Superstars give three easy ways to add them in. When in doubt, you know there’s a plugin to help.
If you’re not on WordPress, I’d suggest checking with your dev team on how best to tackle this.
For advertisers there isn’t much you need to do. Though while Google says that this is a way to help the searcher differentiate between organic results and paid ads, I see the line actually becoming blurrier. So keep an eye on your CTRs and your spend. You may see more traffic coming in the next week or two.
Not Sure if Your Site has a Favicon?
You know there’s a tool out there to help you check (there’s a tool for virtually everything). Just go there, put in your URL and you’ll instantly see if you’re OK.
