Back in February, I reported about this unusual Google Search ad format for people also considered sponsored results. They did not look like ads, but they were labeled sponsored.
Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, confirmed these are a sponsored ads experiment, but clicking on them do not result in a charge. They are labeled as sponsored only because they go to more commercial queries, she said.
Ginny Marivn wrote on X:
(1) This is just an experiment and not fully live.
(2) Advertisers do not pay for clicks on these.
(3) They are labeled as "Sponsored" because they link to commercial queries.
Here is what she wrote:
This is currently an experiment. Advertisers do not pay for clicks on these placements. As part of this experiment, we label this unit as "Sponsored" because it links to search results for commercial queries related to the search.
Hi Julie & Glenn, This is currently an experiment. Advertisers do not pay for clicks on these placements. As part of this experiment, we label this unit as "Sponsored" because it links to search results for commercial queries related to the search.
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) April 29, 2025
It is interesting Google would label links to commercial queries as sponsored, don't you think?
More SERP Inception. As I was testing a query this morning based on Barry's latest post, I came across "People also consider"... which is SPONSORED. Barry covered this in February, but it's another great example of SERP Inception.
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) April 14, 2025
First, who is sponsoring those links, and why??… pic.twitter.com/ntpenFHFKR
Bit more from Ginny on this:
This is an experiment only, that the Ads team is running. The suggestions are ranked using a number of factors, including relevance to users’ search terms, and likelihood of showing ads by the Ads team.
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) April 30, 2025
Forum discussion at X.
