Actually, years ago Google labeled AdSense ads much more clearly with the tag "Ads by Gooooooogle." There was also a link to "Advertise on this site" back then, which they seem to be bringing back a version of with the Direct Advertising feature.

Honestly, I think they're just trying to make sure that when users click on an ad, they're actually intending to do so. It doesn't do an advertiser any good to get a bunch of click-throughs on an ad, but few or no conversions.

No it doesn't do an advertiser any good to get clicks that are unintended. But let's be real, between click fraud, inadvertent clicks (i.e. some AdSense clicks) advertisers have to decide if the ROI still works for them. And if they are advertising still, well their data shows that even with click fraud/adsense it's a profitable acquisition channel for them. If it's not profitable for them, well then they are not a smart business. Point being, Google doesn't care if the advertiser makes money or not. I just don't see this move, or the "ads" label on Adwords results as something Google is doing because they want to be more transparent to advertisers. Again, I think there is a bigger issue going on "strongly encouraging" them to make these changes. I think it's coming from a very powerful federal department. I believe they've been request to make these changes.

Point being, Google doesn't care if the advertiser makes money or not.

Well yea they do to some degree, because that's how they convince advertisers to spend still more money.

It's not a question of small businesses not being smart - Google has made the AdWords system so complicated that unless you are a bona fide expert (like me) you simply don't have the time to learn all the ins and outs of AdWords in order to manage it competently; you have to run your business. So you set it up according to Google's "best practices" or you hire some third party agency or even Google themselves to manage it for you - and they have different agendas. And you can't just drop AdWords because all your competitors are there.

That said, I don't disagree that pressure from the FTC might also have something to do with it.

(I'm not seeing it on any of my sites yet though)

can you share a screen shot?

Has anyone else seen this?

Haven't seen it since that Aug 15th and even that day I only saw it briefly.