Google is changing the way links are displayed in Google+ posts.
As reported by Google Plus Daily, if you link to a webpage that contains a sizeable image, the subsequent post will now show a larger thumbnail. It has a ragged edge along the bottom, almost like it’s been torn from a scrapbook, and displays a far larger title or headline underneath.
The new post format also includes a snippet of text from the webpage in question and a link to the source’s Google+ webpage. Given both the image and headline are clickable, the update should increase referrals from Google+ and also increase the number (and frequency) of people adding pages to their circles.
For posts that don’t contain a large image, Google will continue to show the dual-column post format, with a smaller thumbnail on the left and the larger link title on the right. While it’s not particularly engaging or exciting to look at, it should stop the social network from filling up with low-res, pixellated images.
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The update is a welcome one, but not particularly surprising. Facebook and Twitter have moved to larger link images for the desktop versions of their respective sites, in a bid to boost clickthrough rates and make their service more visually appealing.
Read Next: Google+ for iOS gets Community post pinning, What’s Hot topics and granular location settings / Google+ for Android gets photo editing across devices, one view for all photos, new filters and creative tools
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