Home > It’s Official: New Ad Placements on Google

It’s Official: New Ad Placements on Google

Paid search ads at the bottom of Google search results have been seen for several months. Today, Google announced that these new ad placements have been rolled out across their network. When to utilize these new placements will be determined dynamically. So, searchers will not always see ads at the bottom of their results. (At least not yet.)

Here’s what the new ad placements look like:

Ads are now showing at the bottom of google results.

 

Are There Advantages for this New Placement?

Google claims that these ads perform better than those placed on the side of search results. Their explanation of this is that the new placements fit “better into the user’s flow.” It also provides more available ad space, so it may be easier and cheaper to achieve page one ad positions.

 

Ad Placement Segment Reporting

The current “Top vs Side” report will now show all side, bottom, and experiment impressions under the “Other” segment. It appears that Google will not further segment between these ad placements, which is unfortunate. Hopefully they will update this quickly so advertisers know what placements work best for them!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more news updates from PPC Hero!

November 3, 2011

About the Author

Jeff Allen

For over a decade Jeff has managed marketing campaigns for major national and international corporations. He has won awards in email marketing, and has displayed an aptitude for producing goal-exceeding results in PPC and SEO management. He attributes his successes to a gut-level determination to winning in any conditions, no excuses. Jeff graduated from the University of Utah and remains a rabid U of U football fan. He also roots the Utah Jazz, loves to fish, and enjoys being a bit of a foodie with his wife, Lori.
  • Melanie

    Hmm…do you think this was really done because it fit “better into the user’s flow”? Or do you think it was done to appease all of us PPC advertisers because they keep taking over the right panel with local search results?

    First they added the local map to the right panel which remained in place when users scrolled down the page, ultimately covering the PPC ads.

    Then yesterday they made an update to the local search results…once again which resides in the right rail and again takes up the space where the PPC ads should be appearing.

    I for one have been getting annoyed with theses changes so I almost feel like this was just done as a compromise rather than a benefit. But we’ll see.

    • Jeff Allen

      Good points. I lean towards thinking that Google must have seen an improvement in CTR since it’s how they generate revenue. Of course, they are always going back and forth between giving users what they are looking for, where they want it, and making advertisers happy. Hopefully someone will do some eye tracking quickly and tell us if the ads at the bottom get as much/more heat than ads served on the side!

    • Jeff Allen

      Good points. I lean towards thinking that Google must have seen an improvement in CTR since it’s how they generate revenue. Of course, they are always going back and forth between giving users what they are looking for, where they want it, and making advertisers happy. Hopefully someone will do some eye tracking quickly and tell us if the ads at the bottom get as much/more heat than ads served on the side!

    • Jeff Allen

      Good points. I lean towards thinking that Google must have seen an improvement in CTR since it’s how they generate revenue. Of course, they are always going back and forth between giving users what they are looking for, where they want it, and making advertisers happy. Hopefully someone will do some eye tracking quickly and tell us if the ads at the bottom get as much/more heat than ads served on the side!

  • Anon

    Being a sceptic here but Google don’t aim to optimise CTR, only so far as it related to revenue…
     - what they have kind of done here is reduce the number of ads on the page, so the ‘cheaper’ position ads are not around and the only space for advertisers is the more expensive top area – maybe they want people bidding more aggressively…

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