Google Search is changing, and the change is about how it shows advertisement. The search giant confirms that it's removing the ads that appear on the right sidebar of its Search results, replacing it with ads above the fold.
Starting February 22nd, 2016, Google officially rolls out the update for its paid search layout. The place for ads that was on the right side of the screen, is now blank whiteness.
Google now puts its ads above the fold, consisting of 1-3 ads that force the rest of the search results (organic results) further down the page. A fourth (additional) ad will be placed, adding to the 3 ads for certain lucrative searches.
Google that started testing the layout on December 2015, wants to make its desktop search results pages to resemble its mobile search results pages, more like it ever did before.
For years, Google ran up to eight paid ads on the right side in desktop mode. While the total varies for each search query, 1-4 ads slot are less than what it had.
Google's move to simplify the layout means advertisers will have to put more of their efforts to compete with that smaller number of available ad slots in Google's auction.
This is also an indication of its effort to push advertisers to spend more readily on mobile devices, where most of its potential searches now happen.
While Google desktop users will see a blank white space on their right-hand side, Google however manages two exceptions:
- Google's own Product Listing Ads (PLAs) will still appear on the right column on commercial search results.
- The Knowledge Panel, which shows immediate results about business information and others, also stay on the right sidebar of desktop search results.
"We've been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries," said a Google spokesperson. "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."
In addition to the ads at the top (above the fold), Google has also added ads at the bottom of each SERP as well.
Google confirmed that the change is global and affects all languages.
Because the update is limited to desktop search results pages, websites that are targeting desktop users may have their traffic affected. Ads that appear beneath the third or fourth organic position may see a decline in their click-through rate.