I came across a new ad label on Google search about a week and a half ago, which only had a green outline and white background, instead of the solid green background. My colleagues in the office weren’t able to see this new format at that time, and only started seeing them this morning. Here is a screenshot of what they ads look like.

Google confirmed that they are now rolling out this new format globally and should be complete by end of next week. Here is what a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land on Wednesday.

We routinely test potential improvements to the look and feel of our search results page. After experimenting with a new search ad label with a green outline, we’ve decided to roll it out. The new ad label is more legible and continues to make our results page easier to read for our users with clear indication of our ad labeling

Google is always testing new formats and the solid green label actually had a very short shelf life as they didn’t even last 6 months. If you can recall, the adverts used to have yellow labels and Google stressed that colour changes didn’t have a bearing on consumers’ ability to distinguish paid listings from Organic free listings on the search engine results page. In my opinion I think Google wants to make the adverts show less like adverts as its now even harder to identify the ad. It actually looks like the label is part of the green URL and I see more clicks for advertisers, and more dollars for the Search Giant.