Google has been displaying Emoji symbols in SERPs over the last few weeks, which excited users have noticed in desktop searches. In late April, travel booking giant Expedia has experimented with popular Emoji symbols by adding them to title tags, snippets and other meta data to increase their click through rate (CTR). Many webmasters have since started testing this theory by adding Emoji symbols to their results page titles, overloading Google with funny, cute ideograms and smileys.
The Emoji overflow resulted in a statement from Google’s John Mueller announcing their removal from the SERP’s. The disappearance of the symbols will not impact rankings or penalize websites, as this will only change the looks of results on Google. Webmasters are still awaiting to know if Google will replace the Emojis with other symbols or strip them from the title tags completely.
As users wait for new directions from Google, it may be safer to completely remove symbols from future SEO and CTR strategies as Emojis will no longer be valued by Google.
Places Emojis are currently being used include:
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Google My Business Listing titles
- Adwords (not allowed in Japan)
These symbols represented a fun way for website owners to attract the attention of their users, and calling for action thanks to telephone Emojis next to company phone numbers or gift Emojis next to E-Commerce URLs.