Google To Remove Sidebar Ads
The search engine giant is to begin displayed four paid adverts above organic search results, whilst no longer displaying any paid advertising in the right-hand sidebar.
This adjustment will further align desktop search results with the mobile search experience.
Ongoing tweaks
Google first began testing four paid adverts on desktop in 2010, with several tweaks over the years. More recently in December 2015, users reported seeing four paid adverts at the top of Google search results, yet Google announced testing was not permanent and was only for a few search queries.
Organic results pushed further down
More paid adverts at the top of the page would force organic search results further down - meaning users will often view more paid adverts than organic listings for competitive search terms.
This tweak has led industry experts to debate the pros and cons of increased real estate for paid search results, including Dr Pete Meyers - Marketing Scientist at Moz - posting a screenshot on Twitter outlining the search results for "mortgage calculators".
PLAs & Knowledge Graph unaffected
A Google spokesperson confirmed the update will affect all searches, in every country and language worldwide. However, Product Listings Ads (PLAs) and the Knowledge Graph will not be affected and will continue to be shown in to the right of Google search results.
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