Google is changing the font to indict that an article is being paid for, which is a new addition.
Google search has become much more difficult to distinguish between organic and paid search results. The only distinction that you can make is “Ad” bold, which is difficult to spot because it blends in with the rest of the search page.
Google is bringing a small change to the Adwords system today, as they’re replacing ‘Ad’ with ‘Sponsored’ in bold, and they are also moving the label up to the top of the page so it’s not next to the site URL.
Google has been slowly rolling this update out across mobile devices and will start testing it on the desktop without specifying a date.
Google announced its new label for paid content, which reinforces the company’s ongoing efforts to help people understand what they’re about to click on.
But these changes still might not be enough to clearly separate ads and organic search results. You can make out the difference between “Ad” and “Sponsored” on this page, but in daily usage when you’re zooming through thousands of results, you may lose track of these modifications.
It’s been a long time coming, but Google has finally made ads more visible in search and their labeling is more subtle. This tweet captures only the 2019 changes, but it’s easy to see how the company has slowly been blurring the line with this changeover.
Some people have had a lot to say about the way Google has been changing their design, including dark patterns that make it harder for users to tell whether a piece of content is paid or not. Fortunately, it took them two years to actually implement these changes.
Google is one of the top companies in advertising, so it’s important for the search giant to keep making money from that funnel. As a result, many watchdog agencies are looking into how Google does business–through an antitrust lens.
We’ll include your website name.
According to reports, Google’s latest update will show site names in search results and make it easier for people to identify just what they’re looking for. Plus, more users are likely to recognize a familiar website logo with the company’s decision.
Update October 14, 8 PM IST: After the story was published, a Google spokesperson sent a statement highlighting that changes to the design of the ad were after testing it with users for more than a year.
Changes to the appearance of Search ads and ads labeling are the result of rigorous user testing across many different dimensions, including user understanding and response, advertiser quality and effectiveness, and overall impact of the Search experience. Our tests have been ongoing for over a year and we’re making sure that users can identify the source of their Search ads, where they’re coming from, and that paid content is clearly distinguishable from search results as Google Search evolves.