Baton Rouge Pay-Per-Click Agency News: Google Clears Right Hand Rail

Subtle changes in real estate and your daily landscape can be very noticeable. Whether it’s a neighbor that painted their shutters or even fresh mulch around the crepe myrtles that dot the median in your neighborhood; even understated alterations will catch your eye. New developments being planned and built are the same way; a strip mall going up on a lot that’s been empty for years can leave you scouring for “coming soon” signs and making guesses as to what may be opening. However, while making additions and improvements to the scenery you pass every day is exciting, there is something to be said for removing some of the staples that make up your daily backdrop. Finally demolishing that Blockbuster that has sat vacant since Netflix became a verb, your neighbor selling that old car that has blocked the sidewalk since before you moved in, and seeing that unnecessary 4-way stop that extended your commute replaced with a stop light are all examples of how less is more. 

The digital real estate you navigate every day is following this same principle. Google, the top ranked website and search engine in the world, has just made a major revision to the site that millions of people visit every day, and no it’s not the latest “Google doodle”. Based on research and experiments that date back to 2010, Google will no longer show ads on the right side of the screen of desktop searches. 

If you went to Google, even as recently as Friday (February 19, 2016) you would have seen what you’ve pretty much always seen. Three ads at the top of the screen, a list of ads running down the right hand rail and adjacent to that right angle of AdWords, you would have found your organic search results. Today you’ll find three to four ads at the top of the page (depending on your query); followed by 10 organic results and the page will end with three more ads at the bottom of the page.

Why The Change to Google’s Pay-Per-Click Environment?

So why the sudden change? It actually wasn’t that sudden. Starting in 2010 Google began experimenting with four ad placements at the top of the page for “mortgage” based keyword queries. This expanded AdWords section will remain in place for what Google defines as “highly commercial queries”, i.e. hotel rooms, car insurance, etc. The change to remove right hand column ads also supports Google’s philosophy of mobile first design. Early last year Google confirmed that the moment they had been anticipating had arrived: mobile now accounts for over half of Google’s web searches worldwide. Removing the right hand column ads creates a consistent look between their mobile and desktop platforms.

In 2014 Google earned $66 billion in revenue. Over $45 billion, or 68%, of that came from AdWords; so making a decision to reduce the amount of ads served from 11 or so to a new maximum of 7 was not made hastily. So, how do they plan to make more money with less advertising real estate? Let’s look at what will actually be missed. Ads at the top of the page account for 85.4% of clicks, as opposed to only 14.6% from the right hand column and bottom of the page ads. When you account for the additional top ad and the remaining bottom ads, the difference in actual clicks should be negligible.

What Does This Change Mean for Searchers on Google?

For most, typing in a search query at Google.com, this will likely go unnoticed. However, the user-experience (which is a top priority for Google) will almost certainly be enhanced. Ads with higher quality scores and relevance to keyword searches will be rewarded and shown to searchers. There will also be an opportunity for Ad Extensions (as this was not an option for ads in the right hand column). It is also important to know that just because there will be no text ads on the right had column, that doesn’t mean it will remain an empty wasteland. For certain search queries and keyword categories, the right hand column will remain the home for PLA’s and Knowledge Graphs. PLA’s (Product Listing Ads) are a group of images, reviews and links to a particular product (see below). Knowledge Graphs are a system devised by Google to understand facts, people, places and things and how they are all connected in relation to a particular search query. The goal of the knowledge graph is to provide answers and not just links.