There have apparently been a few sightings of favicons, an image that appears next to the URL in the browser address bar, within select Google search result pages. Brian Ussery first noticed the favicons in search results for queries using the "site" operator command (site:websitemagazine.com), although it does not seem to be appearing as of this morning. Fortunately, there are several screenshots which show this development in action.

Initially, many thought this resulted from one particular FireFox extension, but upon further research it seems from the evidence to be something Google might be testing out for a broader user rollout. The evidence? The favicon images presented were being hosted at Google.

Are Favicons in SERPs Good or Bad?
Let us know what you think by commenting below. No search engines currently show favicons in SERPs, but it could be a way to differentiate listings, something Google is certainly interested in doing, as more and more of their competitors embrace a more media-centric universal search approach.