• Kerstin Baker-Ash, Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:30 PM

Google has confirmed testing the display of favicons (graphics representing a Web site) in paid search results in the United Kingdom, according to Kerstin Baker-Ash. Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land also recently sighted favicons in Germany and Poland for AdWords advertises. The test in the U.K. was conducted on less than 1% of advertisers where there was a favicon associated with the display URL, Baker-Ash writes.

Baker-Ash writes that it was not possible to opt in or out of the trial. Google chose the advertisers to participate in the beta, and "it is likely that those advertisers might not have been fully aware that they were being picked for favicon testing," Baker-Ash writes. The images are taken from the favicon associated with the display or destination URL, and advertisers are not actively involved in uploading them, she explains.

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