Verified checkmarks were once a coveted status symbol before Elon Musk’s decision to democratize them, rendering the concept obsolete with widespread accessibility. Google seems poised to revive the venerable reputation-boosting power of verified checkmarks as it reportedly mulls their reintroduction in search results.
It appears that a temporary test feature is being rolled out to a limited group of Google users, causing some users to notice it. For anyone familiar with social media platforms of the past few years, what they’re witnessing must seem eerily familiar.
The blue checkmarks appear next to enterprise links, posing an intriguing dichotomy between quality and relevance. The disconcerting reality is that social hierarchies exclude ordinary citizens from prominent platforms, while influencers and media personalities often blur the lines between their roles. At a minimum, things are not quite in order currently.
Clearly, the checkmarks intend to highlight the genuine URLs linking to the respective companies, a valuable innovation considering the prevalence of spam on the Google search engine, which makes it increasingly important to verify authenticity through visual cues like these checkmarks? Google’s policy is straightforward: it cannot guarantee the reliability of a company or its products.
Molly Shaheen, Google’s Public Affairs Spokesperson, cautioned:
As part of our ongoing efforts to empower online entrepreneurs, we’re currently conducting a small-scale experiment, featuring checkmarks beside select businesses in Google’s search results.
