It seems that Google is rolling out a change to Google AdWords that sees 4 ads at the top of the search results, none on the sidebar at all, and an additional 3 ads at the bottom of the search results. This replaces the usual mix of top, bottom and sidebar-heavy AdWords ads, depending on the specific search result.
Many of the ads do have additional features like sitelinks, but it is hard to tell if those have increased or not.
It was huge news in December when Google began testing 4 ads at the top of the search results, and quite a controversial one for many. While advertisers loved it, regular SEOs weren’t so happy since it pushed the organic search results even further down the page.
AdWords hasn’t confirmed it publicly yet, but multiple advertisers are confirming this is what their AdWords reps are telling them.
Our @adwords rep has confirmed it is a global change to remove right hand side ads from desktop. #PPC #PPCChat #SEO
— Matt Stratford (@Stratford91) February 19, 2016
Getting word from Google that they're officially rolling out four paid ads at the top and no paid ads on the sidebar. cc @rustybrick
— Kyle Risley (@KyleRisley) February 19, 2016
Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz is reporting their Mozcast data went from less than 0.1% of their tracked search results having 4 ads above the fold to 19% of them.
Of 10K SERps, almost 6K had top ads. Breakdown:
1 ad – 36%
2 ads – 17%
3 ads – 28%
4 ads – 19%— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) February 19, 2016
Which equals a 19,000% increase.
@velosofernando Well, 0.1%. So, it's not infinite, just a 19,000% increase 😉
— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) February 19, 2016
From AdWords:
@Matt_Umbro @PPCKirk @Stratford91 @Mel66 @SusanEDub @Nastino Hey everybody! Gathering more info on this for you. Stay tuned. 🙂 -Ian
— Google AdWords (@adwords) February 19, 2016
And then they seemed to be taking a joke in stride while #ppcchat’ers were waiting for the official announcement (even though all evidence points to the change being made).
@PPCKirk Might we suggest adding "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse and "Patience" by Guns n' Roses? 🙂 -Ian
— Google AdWords (@adwords) February 19, 2016
This isn’t a huge surprise when you really think of it. Google has been bringing their search results closer to the mobile experience over the past year, and this definitely qualifies for it.
It also leaves more room for Google’s Product Listing Ads to show in the sidebar – they are still being run in the sidebar even with 4 ads above the fold. And it shows more PLAs since Google often shows two rows of PLAs in the sidebar while only one row at the top of the search results. PLAs can still appear above the search results though.
And also makes it available for other features such as the knowledge panel.
Some are saying the rollout is expected to complete by February 22nd, which is a few days from now.
We will update if/when AdWords confirms the changes. But all evidence from what people are seeing in the search results currently is that most people worldwide are seeing this change to 4 ads on top, 3 on bottom but none at all on the sidebar.
Update from Google: A Google spokesperson reached out to The SEM Post with the following.
“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.”
Update from Google #2: this change is global and impacts all languages. I asked for clarification on the commercial queries, and they are queries where people express a deep intention to buy.
Update #3: We have shared some new details regarding this change.
Jennifer Slegg
Latest posts by Jennifer Slegg (see all)
- 2022 Update for Google Quality Rater Guidelines – Big YMYL Updates - August 1, 2022
- Google Quality Rater Guidelines: The Low Quality 2021 Update - October 19, 2021
- Rethinking Affiliate Sites With Google’s Product Review Update - April 23, 2021
- New Google Quality Rater Guidelines, Update Adds Emphasis on Needs Met - October 16, 2020
- Google Updates Experiment Statistics for Quality Raters - October 6, 2020
Colin Docherty says
Presumably this is now going to make the average cpc go up as there are only 4 paid spots now?
Jennifer Slegg says
There are three spots at the bottom as well.
Jackson Mahoney says
Yeah nobody looks at those ads or clicks on them
Madboy tony says
disagree!
Yisroel says
I see it as a switch from a more affordable model to one where there is a much higher cost to play. Kinda like the difference between Walmart and Nordstrom. Yes you get more per purchase at Nordstrom, but which brings in more revenue?
Mike says
Any word on mobile? Will it be the same as it was or will they see four also?
Joe Youngblood says
“where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers.”
Translation: Fewer organic results but “better” and more ad revenue for Google.
Ads aren’t a great user experience compared to organic, this is a cash grab plain and simple.
Jonathan Jones says
Hmm, slightly concerning that they are doing this. I wonder if their organic search quality team has any say in on this.
I’ve got a feeling the paid team at Google have argued that if this were to be made perm. for commercial terms it would equal x amount in additional revenue. Perhaps the organic search quality team were unsuccessful in repelling this from happening. Or I’m just making this all up and they were more than happy for this to happen. Though it does point back to the fact that the search engineers do not make algorithmic updates during the holiday season in case it impacts businesses – though they do not seem to worry when businesses that survive on commercial terms in organic and may not be able to compete on a commercial level, but rather an organic listing are now going to suffer as a result A bit of a double standard.
Lee Buller says
Not overly happy about this, it’s going to drive up CPC even higher and make it even harder to obtain a realistic ROI for businesses and clients alike!
Yatin Mulay says
WOW! This is huge. Wonder how this will impact the rules/bidding strategies involving ad position..
john says
Lets see how long they keep this up – Back to direct mail + other traffic sources besides their CPC were becoming way too high. Bye bye, lets see how their stock price handles this. As an investor would you want to invest in a company selling advertising at 3-4 times the rate making it unaffordable to advertise? They kicked affiliates to the curb a few years ago only to realize how much they made from them and then all of a sudden allowed them back in.
As an agency I would be concerned promoting google – I would not recommend them seeing that the CPC is going to be too high. $1 cpc will now be $4+
Jimmy Spammer says
This will have been studied extensively prior to the update. It makes total commercial sense to me. Bad luck if you can’t afford the traffic. Those top 4 spots will become even more valuable and the spam that’s now littered all over the side bar will be gone for ever! One more nail in the coffin for duplicate content sites!
John says
Google SERPs look like pure spam now, nothing above the fold but payola links. tsk.tsk. I guess their spam guidelines don’t apply to them?
Jake says
So for anyone dealing with click-fraud on their campaign…this is actually bad news..the keywords will cost more with this new adwords change. Every time your competitor will try and deplete your budget by clicking on your campaigns you will lose serious cash, more than before. If you secure your campaign with an anti-fraud service (www.clickcease.com) or bid only on low competition KW, your ROI will definitely go down. It is amazing how these small changes in an online service can completely change our daily bread.
Josh says
Hi Jake
The competition will rise and every click will cost us more but I don’t see how using an anti fraud service will bring my ROI down. I think it is the other way around. Using anti click fraud services such as clickcease or improvly increases ROI.