Google Search page on mobile is getting new labels for ads, other updates: Here’s a quick look – Times of India

Google Search has been a go-to place for people to find information from various sources and formats (text, images and video). The company has been bringing changes to both mobile as well as web search since the feature’s launch. Google is now introducing a few updates, which are essentially tweaks, to the Search page on mobiles that will make it easy for users to differentiate between search results from trusted sources and advertisements.
Google is updating ‘Ad’ tag to ‘Sponsored’
Probably one of the most user-friendly tweaks announced is the renaming of “Ad” tag to “Sponsored” when search results are displayed on the pages on mobiles. You must have noticed some links with “Ad” on the top left corner. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between advertisements links and links of sources that we trust, especially on mobile.

Google is now replacing the “Ad” with “Sponsored” label in bold next to the advertisements appearing in search results. Moreover, this label will be present in the line above the site URL, instead of showing it next to the URL like it does now.
Site names to Search results
The second rejig on the search pages on mobile is coming in the form of addition of site names and bigger icons. “We’re adding site names to search results on mobile, so you can easily identify the website that’s associated with each result at a glance. We’re also updating the size and shape of the favicon (a website’s logo or icon) that appears in Search,” the company said.

Google says that these changes will further be extended to Search ads to increase clarity and advertiser transparency at a glance. For example, when you search “Gadgets Now” on mobile, you will soon see a larger logo with bolder “GN” alongside the links associated with the search.
Google says that these search page updates are starting to roll out gradually on mobile. The company will soon begin testing the similar experience on desktop as well.