Google Search is one of Google's largest earning sources. So obviously, the company may want to tweak it regularly to see what works best.
And this time, Google announced that it is updating how it displays search results on mobile devices. The change includes a subtle but noticeable 'sponsored' label that replaces the smaller 'ad' label.
According to Google, the label would be prominent and unambiguous across different types of paid content to guarantee that ads are effectively tagged.
This should make Google Search's search results a bit less intimidating.
After all, advertisements tend to be tied with privacy, whereas the term sponsored is arguably friendlier.
The change is explained further by Google's Ads Liason Ginny Marvin.
We've updated our visual history of Google ad labeling in Search to include the new black marker on mobile https://t.co/IRj6CsrOAJ pic.twitter.com/dC77XdeiGU
— Ginny Marvin (@GinnyMarvin) June 4, 2019
The next change is how Google shows search results.
First, domain name us no longer displayed next to the URL of a site in Google Search's search result. Rather, Google is showing it above on a separate line.
Second, to increase engagements, Google is making them more readable.
For example, Google is redesigning favicons of websites that appear on its search results. The graphic images that represent websites on the search result have their size and form modified.
By displaying site names and favicons higher in search results means that Google can facilitate a quicker ability to identify the website linked with each result.
This way, users "can easily identify the website that’s associated with each result at a glance.”
Also, the change can provide “even more information about the sites that you see so you can feel confident about the websites you visit.”
Before this update, URLs would appear in search results, making it difficult to determine which sites were being referenced.
Google said in a blog post that site names, as well as large favicons, are initially available for mobile Search results in English, French, Japanese, and German.
"This new label and its prominent position continues to meet our high standards for being distinguishable from search results and builds on our existing efforts to make information about paid content clear," said Google in the statement.
The tweaks Google is making, can make the search engine a bit more eye-catchy, if not less intimidating.
Google's primary source of revenue comes from advertising.
In the second quarter of 2022, the number amounted to an eye-watering $56.3 billion.
Google has lots of other sources of revenue. But given that Google's dominance is in the advertising sector, regulators and competitors alike have expressed interest in examining the company's advertising operations via an antitrust lens.
The change is also reportedly part of Google's larger redesign attempt to provide more than just text and photos to users.
The idea is to prevent people from leaving the search results pages too quickly by clicking on something else.