Google made a major shift on Friday. Right-hand side ads have been removed from SERPs and now ads are only available at the top and bottom of the page. Google has been testing this shift for some time and made the shift official globally on February 19. The change allows Google to use the right-hand side to display Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs) and provide a better search experience for users.

The Media Image was the first to break this story saying, “One potential area for limiting the amount of advertisers on the SERP might be that Google has determined the average CTR for RHS [right-hand side] ads is poor across verticals, and the expected CPC inflation from the major change is projected to be more profitable in the long run, we suspect.”

What does Google say?

Google confirmed the change saying, “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.”

What does this mean for advertisers?

While the effect of the change is still being determined, there are a variety of predictions being made throughout the industry. For more commercial industries (i.e. insurance, travel, etc.), an additional fourth ad may be placed at the top, making this position much more desirable. With that said, advertisers who typically placed fourth, fifth or sixth will be fighting for this position, driving up average CPCs.

We don’t anticipate this having an effect on branded searches, but overall, competition will likely increase across the board and possibly increase costs, maybe significantly. We believe this will lead to a bigger focus on long-tail keywords, and SEO and other digital advertising efforts will become more important for advertisers.

What are your thoughts on Google’s major change? Let us know in the comments below.