In a bid to help its bottom line, Google is changing the way keyword-based ads appear on its search result pages. It breaks down like this:
- Google places ads higher or lower based on a overall "quality score" that judges how strong the ad is, but one problem with the quality score is that some ads get more clicks – and therefore a higher "quality score" – just because they're placed higher on a page. Google will now remove that artificial advantage.
- Second, Google has relaxed standards for which ads can appear above search results and along the side of a search results page.
Representatives for Google explain the changes in greater detail on their official blog:
"To appear above the search results, ads must meet a certain quality threshold. In the past, if the ad with the highest Ad Rank did not meet the quality threshold, we may not have shown any ads above the search results," the blog reads. "With this update, we’ll allow an ad that meets the quality threshold to appear above the search results even if it has to jump over other ads to do so. For instance, suppose the ad in position 1 on the right side of the page doesn’t have a high enough Quality Score to appear above the search results, but the ad in position 2 does. It’s now possible for the number 2 ad to jump over the number 1 ad and appear above the search results. This change ensures that quality plays an even more important role in determining the ads that show in those prominent positions."
Tech analyst Erick Schonfeld said that these policy changes will help make Google more money because they'll translate to more clicks.
"Putting more ads there should result in more clicks, and thus more revenues for Google" he said, writing for TechCrunch.com. "And remember, because of change No. 1, there should be more ads with high enough quality scores to make it to that coveted spot."