Have you noticed something different with Google search as of late? The world’s largest search engine has eliminated all right-side ads from its listings.
For more than a decade now, Google has displayed its paid ads (purchased through the Adwords program) at the top, bottom and right side of its search results. These paid listings have a small, yellow-colored label saying “Ad.” But in keeping with Google’s tradition of shaking things up, it has decided to eliminate all right-side ads from its search results.
So, why did Google make such a drastic change to its search results? Reports indicate that Google has been toying with the idea since 2010, testing various ad display platforms and formats to determine what yields the greatest results. In a correspondence with SearchEngineLand, the Mountain View company confirmed that right-side ads will be eliminated from its search results, not just for U.S.-based searches, but for all languages worldwide.
There are two exceptions, however, one of which is Google’s Product Listing Ads (PLAs). These ads, which are intended strictly for products and not website advertisements, may still appear on the right side of Google’s search results. Another exception is the use of ads in Google’s Knowledge Panel. Knowledge Panel is essentially another extension which allows small business owners to promote their brands on Google.
Furthermore, Google says that some search results may contain a fourth ad at the top of the search results. This format is generally limited to “highly commercial queries,” as it provides greater relevancy for the end user.
“We’ve been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries. We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers,” explained Google, as noted by the folks at SearchEngineLand.
As an Internet marketer and/or small business owner, you might be wondering how this change will impact your online advertising efforts. Unless you currently promote your products or services on Google Adwords, it’s not going to have any noticeable effect. But if you are among the thousands of small business owners and marketers who do use Adwords, it will have an impact on your marketing efforts, although the degree to which remains unclear at this time. The folks at Hubspot predict that Google’s new change will negatively impact the click-through rates (CTR) for organic listings. In addition, it may also drive up bid prices for certain keywords.
