When Google officially made the change where the 4 ads above the organic search results went from small test to live, it was pretty significant news for many, especially for SEOs who are seeing their sites being pushed further down the page, and for advertisers who are suddenly seeing the AdWords bidding landscape changing. Google reportedly began testing with four ads at the top of results in December, and it appears that they liked the results enough to begin a “complete and permanent” roll-out.
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Google is removing all ads from the right hand side of search results, worldwide.
There’s one exception when ads may still show on the right side of desktop search results: Product Listing Ads will continue to appear either above or to the right of search results. This change was confirmed by Google to The SEM Post, and brings the desktop Google experience closer to that on mobile. It will now only place ads centrally, four at the top and two at the bottom of the page. This will improve the overall average quality of sponsored links, giving users a better experience because only better quality ads are ever likely to show.
We have seen Google moving towards aligning the look and feel of the desktop results with those of mobile. The top gets the most clicks, but they tend to be the impulse of window shoppers, whereas the right rail attracts people who study the fine print to make an informed decision.
That’s right, four ads at the very top of your search results and a bunch of Google product listing ads in the sidebar.
Interestingly, with the addition of a fourth advert at the top of the results, it is possible that there could be no organic results above the fold for lower resolution users. They make their clicks count. This is only one more than the three you will previously find there.
This should also be telling you that if you haven’t already moved your budget from Adwords to PLA that it’s time to do so and fast. “Marketers should be mindful of this as they adapt their strategy in light of this news”.
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As a result of the change some advertisers may choose to diversify their programs across publishers and channels to maintain overall CPC levels.
