Google appears to be testing a new measure to increase security in its search engine. This Tuesday (28), a user noticed that the company started showing blue badges on sponsored sites from verified advertisers in the results.
Khushal Bherwani, an SEO analyst, released screenshots showing the new blue badge on sponsored links displayed in search results. The badge appears above the URL address and next to the advertiser’s name. By touching the icon, it is possible to access the data of the entity responsible for advertising. Check out the images below:
Big tech has a verification program to ensure that subscribers are easily identified, but in some cases, company policy is not enough to prevent users from encountering sponsored content with malware and misleading content.
In a recent case, criminals paid for Google Ads advertising to direct users to a malicious website “disguised” as an AMD support page. A similar incident occurred in December with a fake Mastercard page that could be exploited to steal victims’ bank details.
The blue icon with the “check” symbol — similar to the Twitter verification seal — should help identify legitimate sites. In the case of legitimate pages that are not usually sponsored, such as an AMD driver support page, for example, an advertisement without the verification seal could serve as a warning to search users.
TechSmart tried to replicate the display of the verification badge, but the feature appears to be in an early testing phase with limitation for only a portion of users. Google has yet to officially comment on the news.
