What's SERP With Google?
Google has always been known for sticking to quite a simple and rarely changed method of advertising so when they recently announced the big news of removing right-side ads on the search engine results page (SERP), many people have been quite taken aback.
One of the most prominent questions advertisers who use Google’s services have is - how will this impact organic searches, and if it does influence advertising, what can we do about the changes?
To start answering this question first we must look at exactly what has been changed. Google has decreased the maximum amount of ads that are shown on the right hand side of the search engine results page from eleven to seven. This may not seem like a big deal to the average internet user, and some may even welcome the change as it means less intruding ads. The real problem here though is for the advertisers that rely on Google’s platform will now have less of a chance of reaching potential users and customers. The larger advertisers with a strong enough budget to regularly stay within the top few paid positions do not have much to worry about here, but smaller businesses and advertisers who – due to budget limitations – have only been able to capitalise on the “lesser” paid positions will surely feel the effects of this change soon and will have to plan accordingly. We will have to wait and see until the changes come into effect before knowing for sure what the new pros and cons of removing right-side ads will produce, but one thing that’s a definite is that we’ll see many marketers starting to shift their efforts from those that once focused on paid advertising to a newer more organic and natural approach.
It is important to take into consideration why Google has made this change because, at first glance, it may seem like a counterproductive move from a financial perspective. The main reason that Google has incorporated this change is to create a smoother, cleaner experience for users when they are completing a search. The internet has been rapidly shifting over to a more mobile-friendly based medium and by making the search engine result page less bulky, Google is keeping within and up-to-date with this trend.
Google has always prioritised a more mobile-friendly web experience for users, which is evident with last year’s major search engine algorithm update regarding giving priority to mobile-friendly websites, so it really comes as no surprise that they are changing their own website in accordance with this. For the first time ever, the yearly number of searches using a mobile device has surpassed those coming from a computer. So I believe we can expect many more similar changes to come into effect in the future – which will both drastically change the way we have viewed the internet while also providing a more accessible, cleaner experience for future users.
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