Google Removes Ads From The Right Side of Desktop Search Results

As the largest global web network, Google has always been game for surprising and interesting updates. The entire world witnessed Google changing its highly popular logo, even a few days back. Although the transformation of Google’s logo for Google Doodles was accepted in positive spirits, perhaps that is not the case for the latest change incorporated by Google.

The entire digital world and tech arena shook with Google’s decision of eliminating right-hand side advertisements. By removing advertisements from the right side of the desktop screens, the company has brought down the number of advertisements from 11 to 7.

Also Read: Google Releases Search Analytics Report to Get More Refined Data

Probable Effects on Online Marketing

Quite naturally, such a measure gives birth to numerous queries and apprehensions. There is no denying the fact that this move by Google will unavoidably bring about crucial changes in the lives of online marketers. Organic search will get affected causing quite a stir in the digital marketing arena.

Let us first get a crystal clear idea of the changes incorporated by Google. Only then it will be possible to dig into its impact on organic search.

The ‘Before and After’ Scene

Prior to this change, Google ads featured in three different locations in SERPs. Ads featured below, above and on the right-hand side of SERPs. After the change, the advertisements on the right side are completely removed.

However, the company is also thinking about increasing ads that feature above the organic search results. The number of advertisements might go up from 3 to 4. However, Google will resort to this measure exclusively in case of ‘highly commercial queries’, where the user has a strong intention to make a purchase.

Google’s Reasons for the Change

With this short overview of the change, let us identify the probable reasons responsible for it.

• The change ensures a comprehensive and cleaner search experience for users.
• Removing right side advertisements will also enhance the mobile search experience, thus bridging the gap between desktop and mobile search. With last year’s Google algorithms, this was inevitably something the company was aiming at.
• With over 100 billion searches performed on mobile devices, it was becoming increasingly imperative to ensure an unsurpassed mobile search experience.
• Elimination of right-hand side ads will ensure a clean page without removing a widely-used advertising unit.

Impact on Organic Search

I. Lowering Traffic: The decision taken by Google will inevitably have an impact on organic search. Although a reduction in the number of advertisements might enhance organic traffic, the presence of a fourth advertisement above the organic search results might also lower traffic.

II. Negative Impact: Since the position or ranking of an advertisement on SERPs determines its click-through rates, ads featuring downwards will not receive many clicks. Therefore, it will impact organic search in a negative manner.

Well, this is not the first time that SERPs is undergoing a massive change. The introduction of Knowledge Graph and Featured Snippet results were also responsible for creating distractions from conventional organic search results. With this significant change, marketers have added responsibilities of paying attention to search results displayed in Search Engine Result Pages. As the result, marketers will know about the keywords that ensure optimal formatting of content.