What Does It Mean for Marketers and Users When Google Killed Right Hand Side Ads?

In February 2016, Google removed all PPC ads from the right-hand side of its search engine results page. The removal had an immediate, global effect.

There are many speculations about the effects of it for businesses, advertisers, and users.

But for businesses, the top-of-the-page  paid result will be more expensive and cutthroat. For highly commercial search terms, the search engine giant will show four ads at the top. This will also mean that the organic listings are pushed further off the SERP.

For marketers, they can enjoy getting more organic results found below the fold. This is an improvement as you can find up to nine blue links with two new stories. But, for some, this case is a little too low.

A lot of you may think that the decision of Google in killing its right-hand side ads was purely commercially driven. Has it gone too far? Has it chosen to choose advertisers over user experience?

Many are now thinking that Google wants to extract more revenue from its top ads. However, this isn’t the first attempt of Google in ditching sidebar ads. But the previous decision didn’t involve increasing the ads above its organic results.

Although it may be after with improving revenue, it’s likely to be a balance between revenue and search experience. The changes are likely to beneficial to the overall search experience.

What will site owners do in response? Will it affect SEOs?

Some of us may regret the death of the organic SERPs above the fold. But this isn’t necessarily the case because of the existence of adblockers. Site owners must do what they need to do in order to compete effectively against paid ads. To rank higher for a more commercially meaningful keyword, you should make sure that your organic listing would stand out.

By optimizing your website, you won’t get left behind even if ads will evolve and become more interactive. Thus, you must now aim to get it on page one or be on top three. Otherwise, your site will suffer from a huge drop in click through rates.

It’s also best that your company will be the first brand that comes to mind when users think of certain services that you offer.

With these changes, it makes SEO even more interesting. If you decide to get on top of the premium terms, you should know whether the top spot is indeed worth it.

As regards to user experience, it may or may not harm it. It depends on the goal of the users.

Call SEO Expert Danny for a free quote today!