Google Is Attempting To Add Larger Favicons And Website Text To Its Search Results, Testing These Features Out Across Smartphones

Google is currently testing out larger favicons and site names for Search results and Discover on mobile phones.

So, let’s talk about favicons: they’re essentially small graphics that depict a website, and show up on a browser tab. For example, if you go to the Instagram website via a desktop, the tab harboring it will display the platform’s trademark camera icon. Favicons are just a little bit of visual flavor that allows someone to identify a website at first glance without taking a look at the relevant names and all. They can also (occasionally) help separate phishing websites from their real-life alternatives, as the former lack favicons sometimes. However, with cybercriminals having become exceedingly efficient at their work, this is no longer always the case. In a nutshell, stay safe kids, and don’t hand off private information to strangers.

Favicons aren’t just limited to desktops nowadays: Google has added them to the Chrome version of smartphones for quite a while now. They’re not only a part of tabs but also accompany websites that are displayed on Search results and Google Discovery recommendations. The latter two, however, are not given any such treatment for Google desktop. The platform attempted to rectify this a while back and added favicons to desktop Search results; however, the result ended up making each result look more like an advertisement since Ads are also announced with a similar favicon. Google ultimately scrapped the idea and decided to further consider both need and placement.

Now, Google’s on a mission to make favicons more visible on the one platform where they were well received: mobile smartphones. The tech company has already started testing these out, accompanying larger favicons with larger text for website names on Search results as well on a limited number of Android phones. While more visible, the extra largeness might prove to be a detriment, as smartphone resolutions are increasingly sharp nowadays, and the favicons will only end up looking pixelated.

H/T: 9to5google
Read next: Google’s Quoted Searches Will Now Appear In Bold So Users Can See The Most Relevant Results
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World