Google regularly makes changes to their products in order to give us the best possible service and experience, and many of these you may not even notice.
The latest change made by the company is in the form of their ad labels on SERPs (search engine results pages). Back in June 2016, we reported how Google had changed their ads from yellow labels to solid green ones - now, Google have changed the labels again, this time to a white/clear label with a green outline.
When asked about the change, a Google spokesperson said:
We routinely test potential improvements to the look and feel of our search results page. After experimenting with a new search ad label with a green outline, we’ve decided to roll it out. The new ad label is more legible and continues to make our results page easier to read for our users with clear indication of our ad labeling.
Google has a lengthy history of testing new ad labeling on its search engine results pages. The solid green label didn't really stick around too long - it rolled out globally in June of 2016 and has now been replaced. At the time, Google said the switch from a bright yellow background to green was intended to reduce streamline the number of colours on the page, particularly for mobile users. Google had also stated that its testing indicated the change of colour on the ad label had no bearing on users'’ ability to distinguish adverts from organic results on the SERP. Similar testing for the latest change is said to have had the same results.
These new ad labels have been steadily rolling out in the UK for the last couple of weeks and are gradually rolling out to other countries too, so if you don't see the change yet you should soon!