Google Tests Displaying Ads Under Search Results

Tamar reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google has confirmed that they are testing displaying search ads under the search results. You and I are accustomed to seeing AdWords ads at the top and right hand side of the Google search results page, but we never see them under the search results.

Stephan Kopp commented with a link to a screen capture showing an AdWords ad at the bottom of the search results.

Google has tested AdWords ads at the bottom of the search results in the past. Back in November of 2005, I posted screen shots of Google testing this. But Google made a conscious decision to stop the test and not display ads under the search results. That has changed, Google has decided to once again test showing these ads at the bottom.

But why? Maybe with the new real-time quality score AdWords put in place, Google will be able to show more ads, that might be less “quality” and at the same time, earn additional income for those who click on them. There were some concerns that Google’s search ad revenue may not continue to climb in the past. Maybe Google is looking for way to ensure more ads are displayed and more clicks are generated by possibly placing the lower quality ads under the search results?