Tuesday Tidbit: A Big Google AdWords Update for All Desktop Searches

Come one, come all to the fascinating world of Google's updates and redesigns! We've got a new one to talk about today, folks. Whether you're advertising with AdWords or not, you'll probably find this interesting.

Google has announced that all desktop search engine results pages (SERPs) are undergoing a bit of a redesign. They will no longer have a list of paid ads on the right hand side. From now on, ads will only show up at the top and bottom of the page. There will also now be three or four ads at the top.

What's the big deal? Why should you care? Well, if you're running AdWords ads on keywords that have historically been bringing up that right-hand list of ads on desktop searches, it's quite possible that you'll see a change in how difficult and expensive it is to get your ads on the first page of results, since there are now fewer spots for ads.

If you're not running ads but may in the future, this shouldn't keep you from deciding to try it out. Paid ads can still be a lucrative way to get your brand and content in front of more eyeballs.

What does Google have to say about the whole thing?

“We’ve been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries. We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers.”

Have questions or concerns about this update? Here's a really comprehensive article from Search Engine Land that'll probably answer any questions you have.

Of course, feel free to reach out to me at jskow(at)arcstone.com.

Happy Googling!