Google may be testing showing which country the site operates in with a country label attached to the search result snippet. In the example below, Google is showing a "South African" label with the country flag and the country written out at the top of the snippet next to the site name.
This was originally spotted by Marguerite Smal who posted this in some Facebook group (I believe) and then was reshared by Top Click Media on X (initially with credit and then removed the credit...) - here is that screenshot:
I don't think I've seen this before.
This is the specific page that the search result snippet is for and there is no mention of South Africa on the page. But this website is specifically a shopping site in South Africa.
Have any of you seen something like this before?
Forum discussion at X.
Update: More are seeing this:
Latest in SEO: Google is now testing out a new country-specific label in Search. Interestingly, it seems to only trigger for select few South African sites, with no clear sole input. Able to replicate the discovery by @TopClickMediaSA via @rustybrick: https://t.co/OSYWH2grIv pic.twitter.com/l7cfMOj4MK
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) July 10, 2024
Update 2: Here is why this is being done in South Africa - it is a country level requirement/law.
Update 3: These also show up on ads, as per Adriaan Dekker:
Update 4: On September 16, 2024, Google finally wrote about this feature on its Search Central blog.
