As per the latest news updates, Google had already started testing the ‘Ad’ label back in January of 2019, and as per the latest information, it may be rolled out globally very soon. There may be a white label with a green text, and also green outline replacing the green label which was launched back in 2016 June.
The reaction of the internet marketing community is that the new label will seamlessly fit with the rest of the paid Ad positioning, even though it may create a lesser contrast between the paid and organic counterparts. The new treatment to text Ad labelling was rolled out in mobile search results from May onwards. What makes this Ad labelling different from the previous updates is that it comes as a part of a broader search redesign on mobile alongside the favicons shown up for the organic search listings.
The design layout on top of the ads and organic listing is kept the same now with a new ad label or a favicon and URL destination or the name of the website displayed on top of it. With this, ads may be reflecting more like the organic listings itself, at least for the novice who searchers. You need to know about these too before trying for any free search engine optimisation quote here type of options. Let’s first look into the historical development of Ad labelling for the last several years.
The evolution of Ad labelling
Back in 2013, the Federal Trade Commission noted there was a compliance issue in terms of search engines differentiating organic results from ads, and mandated a clear design treatment for adds to stand apart by:
- Giving a prominent shading for ads which works across all types of devices and monitors, or,
- Giving a prominent colour border or giving both.
In 2013 itself, Google had tweaked the prominent yellow shade to a paler variant. By the end of the year 2013, Google removed shading and then started using a distinguishable yellow label next to the ad. This addition was rolled out in 2014 globally but at a smaller size. Again in 2016, a green label came in as ad demarcation which matched to the colour of elements in ads and organic listings, the URL. The treatment was inverted by making the font green with another thin green border at white background.
Now, after six years, in 2019, these markings have now become arguably subtle than any time since 2013. On testing and releasing this latest design update for mobile during this spring, officials of Google said that majority of the mobile web users are now finding it easier to identify the websites and also reported that it became much easier to scan the search results quickly.
The efforts website owners put into bringing up their sites with quality content to enhance SEO ranking now plays directly at the hands of Google AdWords. Google is convincing the brands that the best possible way to bring their content in front of the most prospective audience is to pay for it; they will tend to do so. In fact, bands get traffic, and users get results also they want, so all wins in the game while Google makes money.
