Google’s improvements to search result layout have been criticized for making it more difficult to distinguish between sponsored and organic results.
The backlash was at its peak in 2020, when Google introduced a new design for desktop search results that included favicons with organic results. The issue was that these little symbols were almost the same size as the “Ad” tag on sponsored results, making it impossible to distinguish between the two at a glance. Following a public uproar, the business reversed its decision and said that it will “experiment with various positions for favicons.”
