Google Ads is testing replacing the “ads” label with a “sponsored” label again. And just so you know, Google in 2010 replaced the “sponsored” label with an “ad” label until this day. Yea, sometimes we do see “sponsored” labels in Google Search but not for the normal search ads – those have been labeled “ads” for the UK and US regions for a long time now.

I personally cannot replicate this but Bastiir posted some screenshots of this on Twitter:

Test: Sponsored label in Google Search:

Normal: Ads label in Google Search:

Here is another full size screenshot you can click on to see the “sponsored” label:

Here are more tests:

Here’s an interesting test. Google is currently showing new ad label variations on mobile, now with the words ‘advertisement’ and ‘sponsored’. This is matched with another URL + favicon test from March – lots going on here. More info: https://t.co/j6IUtkSa1z pic.twitter.com/FLSnZcmzWc

— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) May 17, 2022

I personally like the “sponsored” label, makes it feel more luxury. 🙂

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Update: Google has now confirmed this as a test and sent Search Engine Land this statement:

This is part of a series of experiments to help users more easily identify the brand or advertiser associated with the Search ads they may see for a given query. We are always testing news ways to improve the experience for users on the search results page, but we don’t have anything specific to announce right now.