WebProNews » Favicons

Yahoo Testing Favicons in Sponsored Ads

Chris Crum — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:44:51 +0000

Yahoo is testing the use of favicons in sponsored ads. When a user searches for your domain name, your favicon will appear in your sponsored result.

Yahoo looks at the example of Expedia. You can see how it looks in the following screenshot:

"What good does that do anyone?" asks Yahoo’s Jeff Sweat. "Well, it’s just one more way for users to know they’re really looking at your site, which will improve the search experience. And if they know you’re really what they searched for, they may click on you more frequently, helping your click-through rate and improving your quality score."

A couple months ago Google began testing Favicons in AdWords ads as well. We have not heard much more about this, but at the time, they were only testing them in Europe.

Favicons add just a little bit of branding to an otherwise bland text ads, and I see no reason why advertisers would not want their logo to appear next to their sponsored search results.

Google Dabbling in AdWords Favicons

Chris Crum — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:54:17 +0000

Google is testing the inclusion of favicons in AdWords ads. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable has the following screenshot:

"Those icons seem to be from the favicon.ico file on those respective sites. For example, eBay’s is at ebay.com/favicon.ico," says Schwartz.

At this point, it sounds like Google’s only testing this in Europe. Perhaps the feature will make its way overseas in the near future.

I’d be interested to learn about the results from this testing. For example, do they convert better (apparently ads with Google Checkout icons do)? Either way, it would give advertisers a little extra branding power from their PPC ads without going full-on display ad. It’s not a bad idea.

I can see the larger brands getting higher conversion rates with favicon ads. Users’ attention may be attracted by the brand recognition they are not used to seeing in the AdWords ads they are being served.

Stay Visible to Customers with Friendly Favicons

StraightUpSearch — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 17:48:43 +0000

I’ve heard the phrase “sticky website” creeping back into the oral arsenal of search marketing practitioners and webmasters lately (if it ever left).

If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, it more or less refers to a website that entices visitors to stick around awhile and choose to come back again. There are multiple facets to creating a “sticky website” but I am going to expound upon one way to make it easy for customers to return for more of whatever you’re offering.

Sure, it’s easy enough for a returning customer to type your company name into Google and click on the link to your website. But what if the customer can’t remember your company name or they’re feeling frisky and decide to check out your competitor, who’s paying for the top Adword on your name. In short, there are infinite avenues a customer can disappear down while trying to return to your website.

Since most everyone needs a web browser to visit your website, wouldn’t it be fantastic if you could place a visual link to your site right in the browser’s toolbar? Well guess what? You can.

It’s called a Favicon. Think of it as a visual bookmark, which of course links directly to your website. And today’s web browsers love favicons so much that they’re displaying them everywhere, and allowing users to create their own favicon link list.

In Mozilla’s Firefox browser, favicons are displayed in the address bar, all active tabs, and the user-generated Bookmarks toolbar (text is optional). See screenshot:

Essentially, if a Firefox user bookmarks your site and keeps their Bookmarks toolbar displayed at all times, there will always be a graphical link to your website, clickable at any moment. Now that’s what I call product placement.

In Internet Explorer 7, favicons are displayed in the address bar, all active tabs, and the user-generated Favorites toolbar. See screenshot:

Apple’s Safari web browser also displays favicons in the address bar and Bookmarks menu.

So what exactly is a favicon? It’s only a 16X16 pixel image of your choosing, but I recommend using an image similar to your logo, minus any text, that can be easily associated with your website. Also, a favicon is easy to implement. Here are 2 methods for doing so:

1. Place a call to your favicon in the HEAD tags of all site pages:

2. Place your favicon image in the root directory – But you have to name it “favicon.ico”

See: http://www.straightupsearch.com/favicon.ico or http://www.google.com/favicon.ico

For more information, Wikipedia offers some excellent favicon guidelines.

Keep in mind, your website needs to be deemed worthy enough to warrant a bookmark or favorites link, but that’s another issue.

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Oneupweb is the only two-time winner of the ClickZ award for “Best Search Engine Engine Marketing Firm”. StraightUpSearchs blog authors include experts from Oneupwebs natural SEO, pay-per-click campaign management, research, marketing, design, and sales departments.

Favicons Showing Up In Google AdSense

Chris Richardson — Tue, 24 May 2005 18:01:09 +0000

As Google’s AdSense advertising program continues to embrace the graphical side of web advertising, many bloggers are noticing and commenting on the changes being made by Google while providing advertising for its members.

Last year, Google announced it would be embracing graphical ads in its AdSense program by giving members the option of using this method.

Image Courtesy of JenSense

While Google has embraced graphical ads, they’ve been reluctant to make alterations to their text advertising model. It is true that Google does give AdSense members some control over the look and feel of their text ads; they haven’t allowed the inclusion of graphics, until now.

According to the JenSense, skyskraper text ads have been appearing with favicons displayed in the ads.

For those who are unaware, favicons are the little 16×16 images that represent the look and feel of the site or the company’s logo. For some examples of favicons, click here. Favicons are also used to represent a site when it is bookmarked, provided the site in question actually has a favicon to use.

As for using them in AdSense text ads, JenSense points out this is an effective way to attract attention to an ad. Because favicons are normally eye-catching, using them in text-based ads can help catch the site visitor’s eye and potentially increase ad clicks.

It is uncertain as to which advertisers will be able to use favicons in their text ads. Currently, only big name advertisers have been seen with them.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.

Mozilla Updates For Security

WebProNews — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 21:02:05 +0000

To address security vulnerabilities, the Mozilla Foundation has put out new versions of Firefox and the Mozilla suite of programs.

The Mozilla Foundation is keeping its promise of not realeasing any new major versions of the software but continuing to release security updates.

According to an eWeek article,

“The vulnerabilities addressed by the new versions include three critical bugs in Firefox, two of which are also present in Mozilla. All seven vulnerabilities addressed in the Mozilla fix are also present in the Firefox upgrade, which also contains two fixes specific to it. No changes were announced in the Thunderbird mail client.

The three critical fixes involve two cases of arbitrary code execution and one of privilege escalation. In the first, an error in the support for “favicons” could allow a script to run with elevated privileges and install or run malicious software. The second, specific to Firefox, allows malicious scripts to open a privileged page in the sidebar and then inject script that can be used to install malicious code or steal data.

The third bug appears to involve UI code executing user scripts in an inappropriately privileged fashion. Mozilla is withholding further details on this bug until April 25. “

The new updates are the third major set since late February.

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