Google Search Removes Ads From The Right-Hand Side

Now, Google aligns the mobile and desktop experience: less ads, and no right-side ads, just like on mobile searches. And one of the most visible differences are those sidebar ads, which obviously do not show up like that when doing searches from a mobile device.

Ads will appear at the top and bottom of the SERP, including four instead of three ads at the top for “highly commercial queries”, per Google, such as a search with the keywords “car insurance”.

So what do the changes mean for marketers?

Brand term search activity could be even more important as generic term costs increase and potentially become less efficient.

So what does this mean for advertisers?

Google is about to roll out major updates to its desktop search page and will do away with the right-side ads.

Interestingly, with the addition of a fourth advert at the top of the results, it is possible that there could be no organic results above the fold for lower resolution users.

As you would expect, a lot of people aren’t happy about the change. That could increase the pricing dramatically for a while. Furthermore, advertisers who are now falling off the page will have to raise bids, further inflating the average cost per click. “We’ll need to watch this closely to see which way it goes”.

For some of these types of buy queries, the ads can be more up-to-date than organic counterparts.

This changes a few things for certain companies, now unable to directly market to consumers looking to buy something on a whim or look for reliable resellers of wanted products. “Bid tools will be slow to catch up as their algorithms adjust to a new reality; it’s going to take a while for a new baseline to establish”. Google will show PLAs (Product Listing Ads) and ads in the knowledge graph on the right hand side. And Kirshner predicts that Google is not done yet. That could be very good news for e-commerce advertisers, who typically get a higher return from the right rail.

“The right hand column wasn’t producing great results, so they’re eliminating it in an effort to make supply and demand more competitive”. They make their clicks count. However, long-tail and niche terms will begin to see their right hand ads disappear in the coming weeks.