{"id":113399,"date":"2016-02-25T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T21:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/what-the-adwords-just-happened-to-googles-serp\/"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:55:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:55:05","slug":"what-the-adwords-just-happened-to-googles-serp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/local-search\/what-the-adwords-just-happened-to-googles-serp\/","title":{"rendered":"What the AdWords just happened to Google\u2019s SERP?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet has been a blaze over the past few days with the news that Google have remove
\n<\/a>\u00a0ads from the right-hand side (RHS) of their search results.<\/p>\n

While AdWords veterans are understandably concerned, we\u2019ve always optimised our clients\u2019 paid accounts around their broader marketing objectives, rather than blindly aiming for position one. While this approach won\u2019t change, the results of some campaigns will change dramatically as position five is no longer visible at the top of the page but hidden beneath the organic listings.<\/p>\n

With such a fundamental change in the search engine results pages (SERPS) we thought it was worth breaking this down and adding our own opinions on the news \u2013 especially as this change has been rolled out globally with immediate effect.<\/p>\n

The Facts (as they currently stand…)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SERPs are always changing, but over the past few months we have started to see different results page (as below).<\/p>\n

As you can see, more purchase-led searches tend to contain Shopping Ads with more generic searches featuring paid ads all the way down the RHS.<\/p>\n

\"old<\/a><\/p>\n

Old SERP layout for shopping terms<\/p>\n

\"old<\/a><\/p>\n

Old SERP layout – general searches<\/p>\n

With this new rollout from Google, however, Shopping Ads remain in the RHS but otherwise it\u2019s now blank, except when the knowledge graph info is displayed.<\/p>\n

\"new<\/a><\/p>\n

Shopping terms – new SERP layout<\/p>\n

\"new<\/a><\/p>\n

New SERP layout for general searches<\/p>\n

What does this mean for Paid Search?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Google\u2019s main motivation is probably increased revenue, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean their intentions are evil. Paid search has come a long way in recent years.<\/p>\n

For example, rising costs-per-clicks (CPCs) have forced brands to focus on the relevancy of the ad, meaning the user is more likely to find what they are looking for by clicking on a paid ad. As a result, there are fewer irrelevant and misleading ads.<\/p>\n

In recent years, however, increased competition has led to a rise in CPCs as more advertisers compete for the top spots rather than sitting happy in positions four through nine.<\/p>\n

Now the pressure to be in the top three might be even higher as the not all queries have 4 ad slots at the top (78% according to Larry Kim on Search Engine Watch<\/a>), which will further increase the pressure on being in the top three.<\/p>\n

Expect the number of results having four ads slots to increase drastically over the next six months though.<\/p>\n

Looking at the click placements for some of our larger accounts over the past six months shows that currently \u201cother\u201d click placements (i.e. not at the top of the page) can account for around 20% to 30% of impressions but have a fraction of the click-through-rate (CTR) of top of page ads, with conversion rates at around a third of the top of Google positions.<\/p>\n

We expect the CTR of these positions to drop further, which can be detrimental to quality scores. Google is trying to combat these issues by showing sitelinks, dynamic structured snippets, location extensions, and call out extensions for RHS ads, which is a marked improvement.<\/p>\n

\"quality-score\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Quality Score Matrix<\/p>\n

Should I be changing my strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to feature in these precious top-of-page positions (without tanking your cost per acquisition) it all comes back to an important paid favourite: Quality Score.<\/p>\n

Quality Score is something that\u2019s often discussed but thought to be the paid media managers remit rather than an important aspect for the entire marketing team. But a real focus on quality scores can lead to huge improvements in results.<\/p>\n

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