Google testing green “Ad” labels in UK (and beyond)

Many users in the UK report seeing the green icons in UK SERPs.

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 Update: A Google spokesperson has confirmed, “This is a small test, and we’re always exploring ways to label ads clearly on Google across mobile and desktop.”  The German Google AdWords Twitter account tweeted that the test is affecting about 5 percent of global traffic.

Google appears to be testing a new color for the “Ad” label on text ads in the SERP. Several users in the UK are reporting that the “Ad” labels now match the green color of the display URLs in Google text ads.

Mark Weller of K2L Marketing was among those who noticed the switch.

As was Alex Velinov from Tag Digital.

That’s a change from the yellow “Ad” labels that Google has been using since it first introduced the icon in 2013google-uk-yellow-ads

At this point, the test appears to be limited to the UK, and the green labels aren’t showing consistently at all. Update: I spoke too soon — shortly after posting, a reader sent the screenshot below from the SERPs in Hungary, and Mario Wentzel tweeted it’s showing in Germany, so it’s not just being tested in the UK. Update #2 5:30 pm 4/14: I’ve heard from people in Central and South America that green has been spotted there, and now the green has been seen in the US. (See the tweet below.) So this test is pretty ubiquitous — though I have yet to get to see it live.

Green spotted in Germany:

Green showing in Hungary:

google green ad labels in hungary serp

And the green test comes to the US, spotted here by Trevin Shirey:

 


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About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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