On Friday, February 19th, Google confirmed with advertisers that the look of desktop search results will have a drastic new look. The biggest change we will see is less organic search results per page and no more ads in the column on the right.
With this recent news, advertisers all over the country are shocked and confused by the changes, even though we have seen the signs that this was coming.
If you have been paying close attention to Google search results these last few years, we have seen a variety of theme updates and changes to how we see ads. Back in 2010, we saw the addition of the four ads above each search query, and as early as last year, users began seeing only these four ads at the top of each page.
Here is a quick rundown of the changes we will see:
- There will be no more text ads on the right side of search results on desktop
- The total number of text ads per page might drop from as many as 11 to 7
- There will be 4 ads served at the top of organic searches for “highly commercial queries” (Example: Realtors in Rochester, MN or Web Design in Phoenix, AZ)
- Three ads will be placed at the bottom of each page
- We will still see product listing ads and knowledge panels on the right side
What does this mean for advertising on Google?
A common question, with no clear answer at this time, is: “Will advertising on Google search cost us more money?” Some say that with fewer placements available per page, we may see a higher cost due to supply and demand.
As this new look for Google rolls out, the best answer to these questions will be found through testing and time, which is what the MedEd Web Solutions team plans to execute over the next few months. We will keep an eye on this story and we’ll keep everyone up-to-date with the latest news on this breaking story as well as new stats and statistics as they come in.
We will also address this issue in our next Google Partner Healthcare Webinar on March 9th, 2016. You can sign up for a free spot here.
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