The bold yellow “Ad” icon that started showing up in Google search results on smartphones in September, now appear to be getting a test run in the UK.
This weekend, Ashley Williams, SEO Project Lead at Summit Media in the UK, noticed the icon appearing in the SERPs for every query he performed on his desktop. Here is what it looks like:
In the new design, the yellow shading behind the ads is gone and a thin gray line separates the top set of ads from the organic listings, and the yellow icon is displayed at the top of the right rail ads. The “Ads related to [search query]” is also gone from the top of the ad set.
For quick comparison, here is a desktop SERP for “shoes” in the US from today:
It’s not known how widespread this test on desktops is, and it doesn’t seem to have been spotted in the US, yet. Are you seeing the “Ad” icons in your SERPs?
Update: Many have commented below and via Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to let us know the yellow icons are showing on desktop searches elsewhere, including in the US. The mobile test that began in September appears to be fairly widespread at this point based on feedback.
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