Stephen Hall
Managing Partner, Managing Director, Search & Social
This reduced inventory on page one will likely lead to a decrease in efficiency as some brands try to remain in the top group of paid search results.
Stephen Hall discusses Google’s recent decision to remove the ads that display on the right rail for desktop searches, and what it means in the marketplace and specifically for Maxus clients.
What’s Changed
Following a long running test, Google launched an update to the way AdWords desktop search ads will display in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Google will no longer – with a few exceptions – display search ads in the right-hand rail. This effectively reduces the amount of biddable inventory on the desktop search results from a total of eleven units down to a total of seven. This has the potential to raise bid prices as brands work to ensure visibility in the first four sponsored results that will appear above the organic search results, and three results that will appear at the bottom of the results page.
This move is not entirely surprising to anyone who has seen a search “heat map” of where consumers look while searching; however, it may contribute to raised bids and a reduction of efficiency for some campaigns, along with the potential to reduce clicks to organic results when four paid ads are shown above them. Exceptions that may still appear on the right rail are Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes and ads that may appear within the Knowledge panel.
What the Change Means
Given the extensive testing, it is likely that increasing the number of ads displaying before the organic results, and not showing the right rail ads, did not negatively affect clicks (Google revenue), with the lion’s share of before-the-scroll real estate belonging to paid results. This change, even without inflated bid prices, will likely drive increased revenue for Google (posit: an extra ad on the left garners more clicks than displaying five at the side). This also allows Google to have a more closely aligned mobile and desktop offering.
The reduced inventory is expected to result in increased bid prices, and in turn, a reduction in campaign efficiency.
Implications for Advertisers
This reduced inventory on page one will likely lead to a decrease in efficiency as some brands try to remain in the top group of paid search results. Analysis of the cost per action (CPA) data over the coming weeks will inform if the change dramatically affects the click volumes and costs, and whether brands can remain efficient while adjusting their bidding strategy to appear in the top set vs. the right rail. Assuming this does lead to an increase in bid prices and competition for the top four results, addressing the other factors affecting Quality Score will become increasingly important in recapturing campaign efficiency.
Brands will likely see a reduction in organic search visits – assuming that there are significant paid search campaigns running against their target keywords – and should be aware of this as the organic analytics metrics are reviewed in the coming month.
The net effect of these changes will largely depend on a brand’s existing bidding strategy. If brands are currently ranking in the top 3 for most of their keywords, then there should be little effect with this change. Brands should consider leveraging Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in a coordinated approach with their paid activity to improve organic rankings, while also simultaneously improving the Quality Score for paid search landing pages to improve campaign efficiency. Brands may also see some reduction in the effects of the ‘free’ branding that was delivered by appearing in the right rail but not being clicked.
Key Takeaways:
- Google Search Ads will no longer display on the right side rail on desktop search results
- Depending on bidding strategy, brands may see an increased cost per click (CPC), and associated CPA
- Bidding Strategy should be adjusted based on results to continue to meet CPA goals
- Quality Score (QS) improvements remain a key way to improve campaign efficiency
- Leveraging SEO will improve QS, and simultaneously drive more organic traffic
- Optimization of Ad copy will improve QS to minimize CPC increase impact
