Ok, so maybe it’s not the most revolutionary thing Google has ever done. Google is yet to officially make an announcement, but for the majority of queries we are now seeing the familiar text ad formats reverted back to the yellow background after it was changed to purple in July 2010. We can assume that Google made the change originally to help click through rates – at the time they also said it was to give a “look and feel update” to the Google SERP. However, since they are changing back we have to wonder if the color change actually had a negative impact on CTR.
What has us a little more intrigued is the fact that Google is also testing a merged Headline + First Description line in the headline space of ads for some top position ads. We think this could definitely have significant impact on CTR, much like what we saw when Sitelinks first came on the scene. It will be exiting to see how this rolls out beyond the limited test that Google is conducting right now. Bring it on!