[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he next time you search for something on Google on your PC, you may find it looks a little… different. And you wouldn’t be wrong. Google have changed the way they include Ads in your search results, primarily by changing the use of the section of screen to the right of your results. Previously, you would find a small selection of ads there, plus some promoted results at the top of the results.
The new change places Ads at the top (a maximum of 4) and bottom of the search results, and uses the right hand section for Product Listing Ads where they’re relevant, which draw on Adwords-generated information to show a picture and related information for a product in the search. This means users will need to scroll past more ads to find their organic search results, and will then have an ads section at the end of each page of results.
This is designed to bring the desktop experience of search into line with their mobile search, and is the result of a large amount of testing a tweaking, so you may have seen some version of this previously. With ads bringing in $19.08 billion last year for Google, it’s a key revenue area they’re hardly going to be cavalier about changing. Their concept seems to be to focus on a smaller number of more relevant results, and extra information to increase the performance of the Ads included.
It’s a global change, affecting all languages and country-specific versions of Google’s search. With this in mind, how will this affect your strategy for using Google Ads, knowing that the above the fold options are going to be more constrained? Will you fight as hard for bottom of the page as you do for the top? Here at Ebusiness Guru, we’re making sure we include these changes in our process when working with customers on their AdWords campaigns, to ensure we continue to give great value and advice on getting the most from your advertising budget.
Mark Canty is a Multichannel Ecommerce Consultant at Ebusiness Guru. He is old enough to remember his parents bringing home a VHS recorder, and his first computer plugged into the TV. From this he has learnt that technology is only as great as the uses we have for it. He works hard to ensure that sellers get the right tools, not just the latest and most expensive ones!
Mark is a Google accredited Google Ads specialist, and is interested in the potential for Video Advertising (where appropriate).