Some folks are seeing Google test the old Google desktop search interface. Remember the one before Google launched those (what I feel are horrible) favicons and black ad labels for the snippets? Yea, Google is testing showing the old interface to some searchers.
I saw at least two tweets mentioning this to me, here they are:
Saw that last night too.
— Dawn Anderson (@dawnieando) January 24, 2020
Fav icons in Google Search stopped showing ... Is this a. Bug ?? @JohnMu @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/te2wSa5X3Z
— Raman⚡ (@RrRatan) January 24, 2020
So this is not a bug, I don't think. Just like when Google pushed out on mobile last year, some saw the green ad label and old interface stick around. Danny Sullivan from Google told us back then "I checked. It's not a test. With these types of changes, we sometimes don't roll out to a tiny percentage for some last metrics gathering. That's what's happening here; I expect it'll be complete in the coming weeks."
So I assume this is similar to that launch and this is not a bug, but still out there for testing data. Just to make sure that CTR rate on those ads are super high. :)
Update: I was wrong, kind of, Google is going to take feedback and make changes, and test them:
Last week we updated the look of Search on desktop to mirror what’s been on mobile for months. We’ve heard your feedback about the update. We always want to make Search better, so we’re going to experiment with new placements for favicons….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 24, 2020
Here’s our full statement on why we’re going to experiment further. Our early tests of the design for desktop were positive. But we appreciate the feedback, the trust people place in Google, and we’re dedicating to improving the experience. pic.twitter.com/gy9PwcLqHj
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 24, 2020
