02-22-2016 , 03:20 PM
Ads will be moved at the top and bottom of search results
Google search results pages for desktop users are about to become less cluttered with ads, with a Google spokesperson confirming to SearchEngineLand that the company plans to stop showing ads via the right sidebar
The move comes after a six-year experiment the company took to see the revenue impact this change might have on its bottom line.
Seeing that Google has moved forward with plans to remove the right sidebar, it seems that not that many people clicked those ads to begin with, and overall impact could be mitigated by other revenue streams.
There are two exceptions to this rule
This change has started rolling to the company's users worldwide, who in the upcoming days will notice the disappearance of the right sidebar from their search results, except for two situations.
One is Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes, which are ads with images that show whenever the user searches for a specific product name. These PLAs show inline with search results but sometimes are also known to pop up in the right sidebar, based on various display filters Google employs for its layout.
These PLAs will continue to appear on the right sidebar whenever Google deems it necessary to clear up regular search results and move flashy image-based ads to the side.
The second exception is for ads in the Knowledge Panel. All Knowledge Panel widgets will continue to show on the right side of search results, regardless of whether they hold ads or not.
Google plans to show more inline ads
To counteract the removal of the right sidebar, Google plans to show three (or four) ads at the top of search results, and another three at the bottom, right above the page navigation panel.
A fourth ad will be shown at the top only for "highly commercial queries," like "dentist New York," "clothing store," "real estate agencies Alabama," etc..
Google has shown ads at the bottom of search results before, ranging between two and four ad spots. For mobile search results, the company will continue to show a maximum of two ad spots, three for commercial queries.
Source
Google search results pages for desktop users are about to become less cluttered with ads, with a Google spokesperson confirming to SearchEngineLand that the company plans to stop showing ads via the right sidebar
The move comes after a six-year experiment the company took to see the revenue impact this change might have on its bottom line.
Seeing that Google has moved forward with plans to remove the right sidebar, it seems that not that many people clicked those ads to begin with, and overall impact could be mitigated by other revenue streams.
There are two exceptions to this rule
This change has started rolling to the company's users worldwide, who in the upcoming days will notice the disappearance of the right sidebar from their search results, except for two situations.
One is Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes, which are ads with images that show whenever the user searches for a specific product name. These PLAs show inline with search results but sometimes are also known to pop up in the right sidebar, based on various display filters Google employs for its layout.
These PLAs will continue to appear on the right sidebar whenever Google deems it necessary to clear up regular search results and move flashy image-based ads to the side.
The second exception is for ads in the Knowledge Panel. All Knowledge Panel widgets will continue to show on the right side of search results, regardless of whether they hold ads or not.
Google plans to show more inline ads
To counteract the removal of the right sidebar, Google plans to show three (or four) ads at the top of search results, and another three at the bottom, right above the page navigation panel.
A fourth ad will be shown at the top only for "highly commercial queries," like "dentist New York," "clothing store," "real estate agencies Alabama," etc..
Google has shown ads at the bottom of search results before, ranging between two and four ad spots. For mobile search results, the company will continue to show a maximum of two ad spots, three for commercial queries.
Source