Google AdWords Pulls Right Side SERP Ads

Big news hit the world of organic search and online advertising recently when Google decided it would no longer display paid text ads on the right side of search engine result pages for desktop users worldwide.

One of the first to break the news was The Media Image. In the course of doing some testing in early February, they noticed something was amiss.

It appears the right side ads will be replaced with more ads in the central search results column.

Where did the right side ads go?

What Does That Mean for Paid Search?

It’s too soon to say exactly what this will mean with any certainty. Some speculate that this change will mean less room for paid search ads, which will result in more competition for space and higher prices for advertisers.

But others say that in some cases AdWords will display four ads up top—which will push organic search results further down the screen.

My own ad hoc testing has returned a variety of results. Sometimes three ads are displayed up top, sometimes four. And product listing ads sometimes still make an appearance on the right side of the search results page.

What Does That Mean for Organic Search?

If more screen space is given to paid search ads—to the detriment of organic search results—this could signal a move by Google to put more emphasis on its more profitable features (i.e. advertising).

Further evidence of this trend was AdWords’s announcement in December that it would increase the amount of space available for structured snippets ad extensions from one line to two. Again, this change allots more valuable screen “real estate” to paid search.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this all shakes out!