Sponsored Listing Highlighter

WHAT IT DOES

Sponsored Listing Highlighter is a browser extension that scans any webpage for sponsored, advertised, or promoted product listings and highlights them with a visual indicator (orange outline and a "📢 Sponsored" label). It shows a count of sponsored versus organic listings, helping you distinguish paid content from organic search results. The tool detects sponsored indicators in text ("sponsored", "advertisement", "promoted", "ad", "advertising") and also checks for sponsored badges and class names. It is ideal for shoppers who want to make informed purchasing decisions, researchers analyzing search result patterns, and anyone who wants to see which listings are paid promotions.

WHERE IT RUNS

Sponsored Listing Highlighter runs on any webpage, overlaying a floating panel that does not interfere with page content. It operates entirely in your browser as a lightweight userscript, scanning the DOM for product listings and sponsored indicators. It works on any page, whether static or dynamic, with no external dependencies. All settings are stored locally using GM_setValue—no data is ever sent to any server.

HOW TO USE

After installation, open the floating panel by clicking the extension icon. The panel shows the current status (Enabled or Disabled) and a toggle button to enable or disable the highlighter. The panel displays a summary with total listings, organic count, and sponsored count. A list shows each listing with its name and status (Sponsored or Organic). Click the "Scan" button to manually rescan for listings. The tool automatically rescans when the page content changes. Sponsored listings are highlighted with an orange outline and a label. All settings are saved per website.

REAL MECHANISM — WHY THIS WORKS

Most shoppers manually scan product pages looking for "sponsored" labels, which can be easy to miss. Sponsored Listing Highlighter uses a DOM-scanning approach that automatically identifies sponsored content. The tool finds listing containers using common CSS selectors (.product, .item, .product-card, .listing-item, etc.) and product link patterns (/product/, /item/, /dp/). It then checks the container's text content against a comprehensive list of sponsored patterns ("sponsored", "advertisement", "promoted", "ad", "advertising", "paid", "sponsor", "promotion", "featured", etc.). The tool also looks for visual indicators like badges with "Sponsored" or "Ad" text and class names that suggest sponsored content. Additionally, it detects common recommendation labels like "You might also like," "People also bought," and "Customers also viewed," which often indicate promoted content. Each listing is classified as sponsored or organic, and the results are displayed with color-coded cards. Sponsored listings are highlighted with an orange outline and a label using CSS. A MutationObserver detects dynamically added listings and rescans automatically. This approach ensures accurate, real-time, and fully private sponsored listing detection without requiring any external services or network access.

THE PANEL

The floating panel is fully draggable and remembers its position per site, snapping to the edges of the viewport when dragged near them. You can collapse the panel to a small icon to minimize screen distraction and expand it back with a single click. The panel is resizable from the bottom-right corner, giving you more space to view the listing list. Press the Escape key to close the panel instantly. The panel remains open across page navigation within the same domain, maintaining your current view state. All preferences—panel position and enabled state—are saved per domain for a seamless experience.

PLEASE NOTE

Sponsored Listing Highlighter requires the free BotGentz extension to be installed and enabled, as it relies on the cross-extension messaging API provided by BotGentz for DOM access permissions. The tool detects sponsored content using text patterns and may not detect all sponsored listings on all websites. The tool does not modify page content; it only adds visual highlights. The classification is based on best-effort pattern matching and may have false positives. All settings are stored locally in your browser using GM_setValue. No page content, listing data, or usage information is ever sent to any server. The extension does not read, store, or transmit any personal information. It only scans and highlights listings at your request.