Google Tests Changing Rating Stars to Percentages in Text Ads

Shanine Dorta - July 11, 2016

For quite some time Google has featured yellow rating stars in their results pages, and in some Organic results as well. These rating stars tend to stand out in a monochromatic SERP.

Recently, however, we noticed these stars are being replaced with light grey percentage text instead.

It’s not news that Google constantly tests page layouts and looks for the best possible experience for its users. (Hence the recent change of “Ad” label from yellow to green – allowing the page to be less distracting and easily scannable.) This new change makes the results page even more understated which results in ad copy, and headlines, being more pronounced.

If you are currently running a paid advertising campaign in Google AdWords, now would be a good time to re-examine your ad copy and description text to ensure your message really speaks to potential customers who are looking for your product or service. If you’d like a few pointers on how to achieve this, read our recent blog post aimed at writing engaging ad copy that stands out, or give us a call.