The other day we reported on Searchers Want “Pages From [Country],” Google Might Drop It. Go read it quickly and come back here. The reports of people seeing this has grown tremendously. I see dozens of forum threads on the issue, and it is not limited to countries outside of the United States, it is also being reported within the United States (not sure how that is possible).

In any event, at first I thought it was a “feature” Google was testing. But I keep watching the threads and I keep seeing Googler, Jimmy and Jem, respond that this is something Google is looking to fix. I don’t get why this would be a “bug” because it looks like a deliberate change or test from Google, but Jimmy from Google keeps calling this a bug impacting some users.

Some people who have seen this are reporting they no longer see it. Again, I really don’t think this is a “bug,” no matter what Google says. This really seems like a feature test to me. I don’t think the Googlers in the thread understand the issue.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Update: Google has confirmed that this is not a bug, but rather a test they are running.