This means that VeriSign trusted sites will be clearly visible on search engine results lists.

"In our present era of multiple online threats, it's hard for consumers to know which sites are safe to visit and which are best avoided, creating barriers for businesses as consumers shy away from online interactions," said Fran Rosch, senior vice president of Business Authentication at VeriSign. "The integration of the VeriSign Trust Seal in AVG's LinkScanner, which has more than 110 million active users worldwide, gives consumers additional protection when they go online, and leads to more visitors for online businesses."

This announcement shows the added value of VeriSign's Trust Seal program.  In the past, the seal was generally only visible once the site was opened, but this announcement shows that trust visibility can be 'bubbled up' to the results list from a search engine.

"Today's bad guys are smarter and create threats that are more sophisticated, hiding in legitimate web sites that are sometimes poisoned for less than a day, which makes a real-time solution absolutely critical," said Lloyd Borrett, Marketing Manager at AVG (AU/NZ). "Anti-virus software alone cannot address these threats. The VeriSign Trust Seal integration with AVG LinkScanner will help consumers protect themselves by enabling them to know what's behind any web page and trust it, when it's most critical - before they click. Adding the VeriSign seal delivers another layer of visibility into the health, security and safety of a site."