Google Testing Full-Page Preview in SERPs
Google looks to be readying yet another change to its search results.
Just spotted an interesting screenshot from the U.K., which shows a full-page preview of the target website, as well as a blue background that highlights the selected site. Clicking anywhere on the preview takes you directly to the site. Have a look:
Also of note, snippets of text on the preview site are being highlighted in an orange box that is enlarged in what appears to be a pop-up box of sorts. These snippets aren’t the same as the ones found on the SERP.
This Google SERP test was spotted this morning by Patrick Altoft. He wrote, “this is not a plugin. I’m using Google Chrome incognito mode with no plugins installed.” This has also been confirmed by other users.
This layout could do some damage to click-through rates. There are no previews for ads, and these website previews are actually hiding the sidebar where Google’s ads run.
Google had this to say: “At any given time we are running between 50-200 search experiments. You can learn more on our blog.”
Anybody else seeing this today?
Oct. 8 Note: Removed “U.K.” from original title, because this test was spotted in the U.S. (see comment below).