Last Friday, February 19, 2016, Google confirmed to www.searchengineland.com that they will no longer display text ads in the right column of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). You can confirm that now by searching on your desktop. Notice no ads on the right side and, depending on your search, more at the top and bottom.
You can get a full explanation of the change here at Search Engine Land. But in the interest of your busy schedule, here’s a list of the changes directly from the article.
1. No text ads will be served on the right rail of the search results on desktop.
2. Google will serve four text ads instead of three in the mainline area above the organic listings for more “highly commercial queries.”
3. Three text ads will show at the bottom of the SERPs.
4. The total number of text ads that can appear on a SERP will shrink from as many as 11 to a maximum of seven.
5. Product listing ad blocks and Knowledge Panels will show in the right rail on relevant queries.
It is too soon to tell how this will affect the pricing of the ads on AdWords. So far it looks like non-brand text ad click or impression volume hasn’t changed much. More info on Google dropping ads on the right side to come as it becomes available.
Until next time,
Nick
My name is Nick Burns. I'm an SEO web writer specializing in persuasive copywriting and content marketing. I provide clients a winning content strategy plus the special web writing to make it work. You can contact me here.
