Is Google testing out green labels for PPC ads?

Google looks to be testing out a new colour of ‘ad’ label for its PPC ads in Europe today.

I noticed this tweet in my timeline earlier today, from a user who’d noticed these green ad labels in the UK.

It appears to be a European thing, as this user in Sweden is seeing similar results:

Update: thanks to Sarah below. It seems US users are seeing the green labels too.

At a moment, it appears to be just a chosen few users who are seeing this. Here’s a quick reminder of what the labels usually look like:

So why is Google (maybe) going green?

First of all, these may just be tests, and we may never see these green labels in common use.

Normally, in UX testing, different colours will be tried out to determine which are most effective as calls to action.

In this case though, the motives are likely to be different. Google’s aim is to deliver clicks for its advertisers and thus more revenue for itself.

It’s hard to see a reason for the green colour, other than that it blends in more easily with the green text showing the URL, thus making it look less like an ad.

If users think results are organic, will they be more likely to click on them? Perhaps that’s Google’s thinking. That’s the reason for removing right hand side ads, according to some opinion.