Google testing purple “Ad” label in Maps

Google is testing a purple “Ad” label in Maps that matches the purple pin noting the location of the advertiser on the map itself. The purple pin distinguishes it from the red organic pins.

Ross at Paid Insights noticed the change on Maps searches on mobile and desktop in the Denver area

It’s not clear how long this test has been running, but I realized that I had actually seen this last week, but hadn’t noticed the color change. Here’s a screenshot I captured on April 20 while looking into the news that Google is now placing ads in the Local Finder as well as Maps.

I’m consistently seeing the purple label in Maps on desktop and Android, but not iOS. Google also began testing green “Ad” labels in the main search results a couple of weeks ago. That test appears to be running in most major markets at this point.

About The Author

As Third Door Media's paid media reporter, Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies and can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)

Let's block ads! (Why?)