If you are a frequent visitor to the World Wide Web, have you noticed that in Google search, there has been select web searches that seem to feature rather large and unfamiliar banner ads whenever the results page is served? Google has recently confirmed that they are currently testing out such ads with a tiny percentage of its user base. According to a Google spokesperson, it has been deemed as “a small experiment.” For instance, what you see above was a screenshot of one of the brands being advertised, as tweeted by @SynrgyHQ, who later learned from Google that around 30 brands have already signed up to be a part of this advertising test.
So far, it seems that the percentage of users who have come across such ads happens to stand at under 5%. Not only that, such ads will only show up whenever you are looking for something that is specifically relevant to the brand, as you see above. If one were to rewind the clock by 8 years or so, we do remember that Google promised that such a situation will never happen. Marissa Mayer even wrote in 2005, “There will be no banner ads on the Google homepage or web search results pages. There will not be crazy, flashy, graphical doodads flying and popping up all over the Google site. Ever.”
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