Google’s mission to make money from Android is just about to get started. Starting today, a new “pilot program” will see sponsored results (ads) appearing in your Play Store searches.

Google will actually be selling a spot at the top of the results list for individual search terms, so advertisers will be able to bid on popular terms like “hotel apps” or “coupon apps,” as demonstrated in Google’s GIF below.

Their app will then appear above all other in the search results — regardless of where it would normally rank — and it will carry a little yellow “Ad” label that will make it clear to users it is a sponsored result.

For now, this pilot program will be limited to a select “pilot group” that has already used traditional web search ads to promote their apps, Google says. But you can be sure that it will be opened up to more and more app developers relatively quickly.

While we’d all prefer a world without any ads whatsoever, Google has to start making money from Android somehow. We have to just be thankful that these ads aren’t that intrusive; it would be a whole lot worse if they were full-screen pop-ups.

Plus, they could be hugely beneficial to Android developers. Google says it paid out $7 billion to Android developers over the past 12 months for Play Store purchases and in-app purchases, and if they can boost their downloads with sponsored results, it’s going to boost their revenue in turn.

• ViaThe Verge