Google has made good on a promise to remove emojis from titles in search results, just as many brands begin to experiment with emojis in everything from URLs to title tags.
In late April, Expedia was the first website to begin using emojis in search results. For example, a search for beach rentals might include a wave emoji. Other brands soon followed suit, which worried Google, according to a May 5 Google Hangout. John Mueller, a webmaster trends analyst, announced that Google would soon be removing the emojis. True to his word, emojis disappeared from search results this morning, as first reported by Jennifer Slegg at The SEM Post.
For now, Google seems to have only removed the emojis from titles. Norwegian Airlines, which created the first emoji URL, seems to be unaffected.
Meanwhile, Bing has retrieved search results for individual emojis since October and began showing emojis in title tags shortly after Google. And while emojis are still showing up in Bing searches, there’s no word on whether or not they will continue to appear.
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