Google Is Trying To Lure More Users Into Clicking On Its Ads

Aadhya Khatri - Jan 25, 2020

It is hard not to think that Google does not do this on purpose, which is to hide ads among other search results

In 2019, Google launched a minor change to how search result appears on mobile devices, which is to show favicons, which, in theory, makes it easier for users to tell trusted sites and ads apart.

However, people are not so happy when the change is rolled out to the web version this year, making the company reconsiders its decision.

Ads used to be highlighted in green but now it shows under a small icon for ad. This makes glancing to distinguish ads harder for users. So it is hard not to think that Google does not do this on purpose, which is to hide ads among other search results.

This move seems to be a step to make ads look sneakier and confuse users, luring them to click on the advertisements, which companies are paying Google so much to do. So this move might serve the benefit of Google and not the users themselves.

Early results show that this effort pays off well as traffic to ads skyrocket after the change was implemented. However, the backlash is clear and the company announces that it is experimenting with a variety of ways of show search results.

One of the tests Google is conducting involves all of the favicons being removed, leaving the site with blue links again.

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