Google Is Testing Verification Badges for Search
Google Search has been struggling for some time to actually deliver the results people are searching for . In fact, sometimes you put yourself at risk by clicking on a top URL on a search results page, as hackers can buy up the ad space and place their own deceptively malicious links there instead. However, it appears Google is working on making search a little more useful – at least when it comes to trusting the sites it displays are actually what they say they are.
As The Verge reports , Google is testing a new system for verifying websites in search: When Google can verify the authenticity of a website, you may see a blue verification icon next to the business name, similar to the icon social media sites use. for checking. (Or, if you’re X, just for paying for the privilege .)
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If you hover over the icon, you will see the following message: “This icon is displayed because Google’s signals suggest that this is the business it claims to be. Google cannot guarantee the reliability of this business or its products.” “So this is not an endorsement of the company itself, but rather a confirmation that this is the business you are looking for.
Currently, The Verge has confirmed that it sees an icon next to links to Microsoft, Meta, Epic Games, Apple, Amazon, and HP when accessing Google Search with a specific account. Other accounts did not display these company icons, meaning Google is currently testing this feature on a limited number of accounts. For what it’s worth, I can’t see the icons in any of my Google accounts.
Google confirmed the feature to Mashable , telling reporter Cecily Moran, “We regularly experiment with features that help shoppers identify trustworthy businesses online, and we’re currently running a small experiment with showing checkmarks next to certain businesses on Google.”
This isn’t the first time Google has experimented with verification badges. This month, the company introduced a similar feature for Gmail , which is based on Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI): whenever a sender navigates to this new platform, their name will be accompanied by a blue checkmark in emails.