Surprise! Google changed something…again.
On Friday, February 19, the search engine giant confirmed that they were nixing ads on the right side bar of the results page and putting all paid ads above and below the organic results (four on the top and three on the bottom, to be precise).
Though it seems sudden, Google has actually been toying with this idea since 2010 and even ran a few “under the radar” experiments for certain search queries prior to the shift. From what we can gather, right-side ads were found, rather unsurprisingly, to be ineffective, and now they’re gone. Product listing ads and knowledge panels for relevant search queries will remain, but the era of right-side text ads is over.
The effects of this move have yet to be fully determined (it literally JUST happened), but it could have a significant impact on CPC’s. Less ad space means higher competition for top page bids. Which means “low-bid” advertisers with thinner budgets could find it harder to have their ads shown.
So the big question for AdWords users is, “Should you do anything?” Quite honestly, there’s not a whole lot you CAN do at the moment. We’d suggest keeping a closer eye on your ad performance and quality score. Test the placement of your ads, and pay attention to any shift in the Top Page Bid and First Page Bid columns in your AdWords dashboard. We’ll be monitoring the situation as well, and we’ll provide updates as the effects of this shift become more prevalent.
If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us. You can also check out this FAQ article from the good people over at Search Engine Land for more information.
