Why have Google removed side adverts?

Google frequently make changes to their homepage, I’m sure we’ve all logged on and been amused by the variations they put on their logo to mark topical events.

For example to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day last year the Google logo was customised:

However Google rarely make changes to their SERP (search engine results page), one exception to this was that they recently removed adverts from the side of their listings. By removing ads from the right side of the results pages, they’ve decreased the maximum amount of ads you can see from eleven all the way down to seven. If you now run a commercial search there are now four paid search results at the top, with nothing on the right. With the area above the fold being completely filled with ads.

Why have Google made this decision?

• The sceptics will say that this decision is revenue motivated. By having less ad spaces you make it more competitive to appear in these listings and ultimately drive the price up. Adverts in the main listings have more depth. Location, sitelink, and other ad extensions were previously only available for top of page ads, they never appeared for side ads.

• CTR’s (click through rates) in the main listings have traditionally been higher than the sidebar so by shifting the ad placement Google can demonstrate greater ROI to their clients. Listings on the right were clearly differentiable as adverts which often resulted in a lower CTR as many users are cynical about adverts. By having paid listings located in the same area as organic, it blurs the lines between the two and could increase CTR’s.

• Moving the adverts creates a slicker user experience. For the first time last year, “mobile search queries surpassed queries coming from desktop.” http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/08/mobile-searches-surpass-desktop-searches-at-google-for-the-first-time/ Therefore for all marketers mobile has to become front of mind when developing their user experience. By eliminating the side ads from the SERP, Google is able to clean up the page without removing a frequently used advert unit.

How does this affect your organisation?

With this being a relatively new change, the amount of data available is limited. However the underlying change is that the CPC (cost per click) is likely to go up because of the increased competition. Marketers may need to either look to increase their budgets or focus on alternative strategies to achieve their desired ranking.  Long tail may become more prevalent, focus on a niche and look to achieve your ranking through this methodology. It certainly is a very interesting time for marketers and the real winners will be the ones who can adapt the quickest (or at all?) to achieve that first page listing.  

How do you think these updates to the SERP will affect you organisation? We would love to hear your thoughts. to find out more please contact Edwin Soares on 01628 857336 or edwin.soares@bps-world.com.