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The Verge spotted verification badges next to some well-known company names in Google search results that led right to their relevant websites. Amazon, Apple, Epic Games, HP, Meta, and Microsoft were among the examples seen, though the badges aren't showing up for everyone — not even the same person logged into different accounts.
"This icon is being shown because Google's signals suggest that this business is the business that it says it is," says the pop-up message for the badge (unhelpfully omitting a link to the definition of tautology on Wiktionary). It finishes in a bit of CYA legalese: "Google can't guarantee the reliability of this business or its products."
As an adoption of visual language that tons of people are familiar with, it makes sense. Even after all the drama surrounding Twitter's verification system after the blue checks became effectively useless after Musk's acquisition, little colored check mark icons remain social media speak for "this thing is legit."
But applying this to Search would require web-wide automation,
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