There have been reports over the weekend that Google have been testing a new layout for their AdWords sponsored links. The listings now show the display URL above the description, in contrast to the traditional format.

AdWords listings have always followed the same format shown below:

The new layout flips the display URL and Ad text:

Also if you take a closer look at the second listing, they also have the display URL and ad text on the same line - something I have never seen before.

Who knows whether this is another Google test or some internal mistcheif at Google, but it would be interesting to see if the new layout effected click through on these listings. I’m just speculating here, but if the URL and Ad text are on the same line, it may also give advertisers more than the 70 character limit for the ad text.

In related news, AdWords advertisers can also now use image ads in their mobile advertising to supplement the text based advertising that’s been available for some time now. The image ads work just like the non-mobile version, with the content and size of the image matched to the surrounding text and size of the screen. To learn more check out the post on the Google AdSense blog.