UPDATED: Google Officially Rolls Out Ads At The Bottom Of Search Results

We’ve been seeing tests for months, and this week Google officially announced it would begin serving AdWords at the bottom of search engine results pages on Google.com. Interestingly, the company says that, in tests, the ads at the bottom performed better than those on the side of the page. Google says ads at the bottom […]

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We’ve been seeing tests for months, and this week Google officially announced it would begin serving AdWords at the bottom of search engine results pages on Google.com. Interestingly, the company says that, in tests, the ads at the bottom performed better than those on the side of the page.

Google says ads at the bottom fit “better into the user’s flow as they scan the page from top to bottom.”

Bottom Ads Crop

 

Google will lump bottom-of-the-page AdWords in with side-of-the-page ads where Top versus Side reporting is concerned. Instead of Top vs Side, the report will soon be called “Top vs. Other.”

UPDATE: In response to questions from readers we tapped Google for clarification and learned that bottom-of-the-page ads and side-of-the-page ads will be mutually exclusive. In other words, when there are ads on the bottom there won’t be ads on the side, and when there are ads on the side, there won’t be ads on the bottom. Some who were concerned that Google SERPs would begin to resemble NASCAR vehicles — cluttered with ads — should be relieved to hear this.


About the author

Pamela Parker
Staff
Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces MarTech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land and MarTech. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

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