Google have announced several changes to the Google Suggest feature, including the addition of functionality that will begin showing AdWords ads.

Google Suggest displays search suggestions in a drop down box triggered when you begin entering a search query.

Other changes to Google Suggest will include:

Suggestions based on the results page
If you are making a search from a previous search’s results page, Google will now display results based not only on your search query, but also on the content of the current results page.

Results based on past searches
Google Suggest will begin offering suggestions based on your past search history (if you are signed-in to your Google account).

Site-specific navigational suggestions
If you begin entering a search query that seems like it might be related to one specific site (e.g. “british museum tours”), Google Suggest will offer a direct link to the suggested site (e.g. http://www.britishmuseum.org/).

Probably the most significant and controversial change to Google Suggest, however, is the  functionality that will begin to display AdWords ads in the suggestions.

According to Google’s blog, “…sometimes we detect that the most relevant completion for what you’re typing is an ad. When an ad is shown, we mark it with the text “Sponsored Link” and a colored background, as on the results page.”

It should be very interesting to see the effect this has on Adwords.

What is really somewhat startling is the thought that with this new functionality, a searcher does not even have to complete a search before they are shown an ad.

Anyone get the (not so) subtle feeling Google are trying to push their sponsored listings?