Key Takeaways
- Google is experimenting with verification checkmarks in search results to help identify trustworthy businesses.
- The checkmarks currently only appear next to certain company-owned websites, but may expand in the future.
- Google’s signals, not company applications, determine which websites receive the checkmark, and reliability is not guaranteed.
Have you seen any checkmarks appear in Google searches lately? If you have, you’re one of the few who have reported seeing these little blue starbursts appear when looking for something on Google. Fortunately, it’s by no means a scam, as the search giant has confirmed that it’s using it to help people identify scam websites.
Google search results now come with verification marks
As reported by The Verge, it seems that companies are now getting little verified checkmarks when they appear on Google results. It doesn’t seem to apply to other sites, but if Google’s experimentation proves successful, the company may roll it out to websites that aren’t just company-owned ones.
And yes, this appears to be an experimentation for now and not a guarantee of anything to come. As a spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge:
We regularly experiment with features that help shoppers identify trustworthy businesses online, and we are currently running a small experiment showing checkmarks next to certain businesses on Google.
Unlike the verification tools that X (formerly Twitter) uses, it doesn’t seem that people get the checkmark by applying to Google. Instead, the search engine claims that it’s based on “Google’s signals,” and that even if a website is verified, the search engine can’t “guarantee the reliability of the business or its products.” So it’s still a little iffy even if it has the mark.
Either way, it’s good to see that Google is finally taking some steps toward identifying legitimate websites, even if it is kind of pinching the idea from X. Even then, it’s still worth checking out metasearch engines to get an idea as to what Google’s competition is up to.