Google is testing circling-in, drawing a circle around, the favicons displayed in the mobile search results. I am not sure I like this but hey, Google is always testing.
Brodie Clark spotted this and posted this on Twitter. He said, "Google is testing a new display for favicons on mobile with a blue gradient circle for the outline. This is opposed to the standard mobile and desktop display which is currently a grey circular background."
Here are screenshots from Brodie; click on them to enlarge them:
This is what I see:
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: Variation:
Google test grey background Fevicon on desktop serp.
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) September 13, 2023
before G tested Circled-In Favicon Design which covered at @seroundtable https://t.co/o3gjNEOApL
but this grey pretty new pic.twitter.com/neoYGlsynU
Adding another variation with black rounded and dark grey background, is google takes this dark bg by itself? pic.twitter.com/vxO3P0pmGp
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) November 16, 2023
Why the title tags in Google SERPs look so different?@rustybrick pic.twitter.com/0BXz7XDe1e
— Anandu S (@byAnanduS) November 16, 2023
🧵examples from mobile serp pic.twitter.com/uUjlmpgHqX
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) November 16, 2023
Google is adding a nice little background to 301 URLs in search results.
— Chandan Kumar (@ConnectCK) November 16, 2023
Did anyone notice?@rustybrick #SEO pic.twitter.com/PDIrEOkd0w
More:
In a test where Google is displaying an interesting version of site favicons. They are expanded to take up the full space, which can really change the design. E.g. check out the car and driver favicon in the test and then the Nike favicon (which is reversed). I think I like the… pic.twitter.com/03RSsDhol7
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 20, 2023
