Google lets companies publish messages with search results during test

Google is testing an extension of its search engine with a number of companies. The companies are given the opportunity to place messages in search results. For the time being, they do not have to pay for this and the opportunity will also come to other ‘prominent people’ and organizations.

The expansion is called Posts and was tested in similar form in debates of presidential candidates earlier this year. However, the tool is now also available for companies. “It’s an experimental search functionality we’re testing that isn’t related to Google+,” a Google spokesperson told Business Insider.

In addition to the experiment, it concerns a short period of time during which small businesses will be given the opportunity to post to search results related to their services. They do not have to pay for this for the time being, so that it is not actually about advertisements yet, but that may change in the future.

The Posts test was discovered by search expert Mike Blumenthal, who was presented with a jeweler’s message page after searching for engagement rings. The Posts page contains news and announcements from the jeweler. Google states that it will release the functionality to ‘prominent figures’ and other organizations.