Paid Results Now More Distinguishable From Organic Results in Google Search Results
Another update from Google that they will be rolling out is with regards to search ads which involve the removal of the “Ad” label in search ads and adding business names and logos to the ads.
These changes will help improve on how to distinguish an organic result and a paid result in Google search results.
Business Names Added in Google Search Ads
In case you’ve missed it, they have recently changed the search snippets for websites advertising on Google Search by displaying the website’s name or business name rather than the title tag set on the website.
See the example below provided by Google:
Image source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12834372
Before this update, what you will see is the landing page URL at the top of search ads, followed by the ad’s title and description. Also you will see the ‘Ad’ label on the text ad.
On the update above, Google removed the ‘Ad’ and replaced it with ‘Sponsored’. It’s still showing the landing page URL but this time the business name is much noticeable along with it’s business logo.
This change will affect advertisers as well who are bidding on their competitor’s keywords since it will be more clear and obvious for searchers where they will land when they click on an ad.
Business Logo Added In Google Search Ads
Yes, you read that right, besides the business names being more present, Google Search are now displaying business logos in search ads.
This is a welcome change since users will be able to tell whose paying for the ad and also it’s going to be a lot easier to tell which is a paid result and an organic result since organic results only appear in plain text with an occasional thumbnail on the far right.
From ‘Ad’ to ‘Sponsored’ Label In Google Search Ads
And last but not least, Google Ads will be removing the ‘Ad’ label and it will be replaced by the ‘Sponsored’ label.
Same as the ‘Ad’ label, it will still appear on the top left corner of search ads.
These updates will be rolled out gradually, first on mobile then eventually for desktop, so be sure on the look out for that.
Am I Eligible for the Update?
Good question, the updates regarding business names and logos are currently running on beta stage and currently limited to advertisers who meet the following eligibility criteria:
- The account has been open for more than 90 days.
- The account has a good history of policy compliance.
- The account has active campaigns.
- The account has active text ads and has been accruing spend on Search campaigns for at least the last 28 days.
- The account is in an eligible vertical or sub-vertical. Sensitive verticals or sub-verticals (for example, sexual content, alcohol, gambling, and healthcare) aren’t eligible for Business Information at this time.
- The account has completed Google’s Advertiser Verification Program.
When these criteria are met, Google ads will then crawl your landing page to find its business name and logo and it will be automatically added to your active campaigns.
Additionally, you’ll have the option to review it and remove as well any automatically crawled and added information that you don’t want to be included.
You can also add business name and logo manually to each of your active campaigns and this will be reviewed by Google to ensure that advertisers comply with the policies and format requirements.
Failing to include your business name will result to Google showing the domain from the display URL you set instead. Additionally, if you don’t have a business logo, a blue globe icon will be added by Google.
These updates are rolling out automatically, and you will get a notification from your Google Ads account when you receive an access to this update.