Oriol Gifra

On February 19, 2016 Google confirmed that search results pages on desktop will no longer show text ads in the right sidebar. Instead, as many as four text ads will display above the organic listings, and three text ads will show at the bottom of the page.

Reading different articles and expert opinions most of them suggest to keep calm, because at the end of the day it only seems to affect around 15% of the total click traffic and even less. Only 14,6% of clicks went to the side bar ads.

Furthermore, this change only is affecting to desktop Google version.

In my opinion after many tests finally Google decide to launch this version because:

• It generates more revenues for Google
• Is more responsive., more mobile friendly
• Keeps sidebar free of content, that can be used for valued content such recommendations, Google Shopping, etc…

But for my the #1 reason is revenue. I don’t think Google went to that decision if it would not generate more profit for them. From outside viewer, I see Google can generate more profit in 3 ways:

• Getting bids up, as there is less ad space offering
• Generating more clicks above the fold, as there now no chance to click on the side, and because organic in many screen ressolutions comes hidden below the fold.
• As SEO lose weight, less Adsense payments to be done, as less clicks are captured in SERP’s

As a conclusion, I would say from my point of view that we are facing in the coming months:

• Higher ad pricing
• Less SEO impact

Let’s see the near future.