We've heard a lot about how Google's changes to its paid ad display might impact advertisers, but what about those focused on organic search? Columnist Winston Burton discusses the impact on SEOs.
Recently, Google decided that paid search ads will no longer appear on the right-hand side of search results for desktop users globally, and up to four paid search results will appear at the top of the page (up from a maximum of three previously).
Paid search ads that fall below the fourth rank will appear at the bottom of the page, which has limited visibility to end users, for a total of seven ads per page max.
This is a big change, but how does it really impact organic search?
The answer is a number of different ways, which I will explore shortly. But before I do, let’s examine why Google is doing this.
Like many companies, Google has seen mobile traffic grow at an accelerated pace over the past two years. This new layout makes the desktop experience very similar to the current mobile SERP. It will allow Google to provide more relevant results for end users and also provide better performance for advertisers.
The key here is the fact that Google is very good at understanding intent. Google can distinguish a transactional query from an informational query. So, if I did a search to buy a camera and got an organic listing first to download the manual, I would see that as bad user experience.
Alternatively, if I received a bunch of paid ads selling cameras and didn’t even see any organic listings, that would be a better user experience. If four paid ads suit the intent, even if they push everything else down below the fold, it’s still a good experience.
How does this impact organic search?
Since the organic search results will be relegated to further down the list, this will cause more advertisers to get more visibility from the top paid search ads, but it comes at a high cost.
If brands really want to get the most out of search, they’ll need to create an integrated organic and paid search strategy with focus on top rankings and paid ads to maintain visibility and be in front of their target audiences.
This change will also make local search more important if you have a brick-and-mortar business, because end users will see paid ads, then the local pack, before even getting to organic results. This makes appearing in that local pack more critical than ever before.
This latest SERP change is going to impact the content that brands produce at all stages of the buyer journey, too. Modern consumer behavior has been characterized by Google as a series of intent-based moments (“micro-moments“) enabled by the high usage of mobile, which can be described as “I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy.”
This is where the consumer comes into the fragmented path to purchase; the “funnel” that marketers often refer to doesn’t exist. The path to purchase is no longer linear.
Therefore, you must have content to reach the user at different stages of the user journey to turn these people into customers. That means differentiating your paid and organic landing pages and creating content that suits each.
With more paid listings appearing for “highly commercial queries,” you’ll need to focus paid landing pages towards searchers in the buying/decision-making stages, whereas your organic landing pages should be better positioned (and possibly expanded) to capture visitors in the research/consideration stages.
In summary, it will be more important to rank in the first two organic positions to capture the most clicks and visibility from organic search.
Since the organic results are getting pushed farther down the page now, both paid and SEO must work together to make 1+1=3. Don’t be afraid to compete with yourself and show the holistic value of integration.
Final Thoughts
Agencies and brands must adapt to the dynamic landscape of the SERPs and put together results-driven strategies and tactics using both paid and organic search together to maximize ROI, capture more conversions and provide end users with relevant content in their moment of need.
Also, perhaps this is a good way to “train” end users into accepting paid-only results at times on mobile phones, especially because of the limited real estate on mobile devices.
Google is completely redesigning AdWords: Offers first peek
The now-legacy platform is undergoing a redesign process to make it easier to navigate and use.
At more than 15 years old, AdWords is looking like a bit of an old
fogey, with an aging facade that looks to be creaking under the weight
of hundreds of features accumulated over a decade and a half.
On Monday, the company announced the start of a major redesign process aimed at rejuvenating the AdWords interface. The last time Google touched up AdWords was way back in 2008.
It’s a major undertaking that aims at addressing a number of issues and wishes raised by advertisers. “This re-imagining process is going to take some time, but we’re excited to finally talk about what we’ve been working on for the past year, year and a half,” said Paul Feng, AdWords product management director, by phone last week. AdWords head Jerry Dischler hinted at this overhaul in a keynote discussion at SMX Advanced in Seattle last June, now we are getting the first glimpse at what’s in store.
“The reason we’re rebuilding AdWords is because the world has changed so much in the past two years. AdWords is now over 15 years old and launched when Google was just figuring out what search advertising was. We rebuilt it several years ago for a desktop world — smartphones were only [a] year old. Now we are in probably the biggest shift since AdWords was introduced (and I’d argue perhaps ever) with mobile,” said Feng, “And there is now increased demand on marketers and on AdWords as a platform — advertisers are running ads in search, display, shopping, mobile, video. Ultimately, that’s why we’re re-imagining AdWords.”
Feng said the redesign has been informed largely by talking to advertisers across the spectrum. Three common themes emerged. First, advertisers said it felt like AdWords has been built around products and features, rather than marketers’ needs and objectives. “How the navigation is laid out can be un-intuitive and comes with a high learning curve,” said Feng. Second, the platform has grown complex, with hundreds of features launching every year that stack up on each other. And third, the basic design looks and feels kind of dated. “The goal is to create a flexible platform for the future,” added Feng.
The redesign is based on Google’s design language, Material Design, that is used in many of its consumer products, like Gmail, Maps and Search.
We asked Feng what’s changing, what isn’t, and when we’re going to get to see this in real life.
No. Unlike the Enhanced Campaigns update, for example, the redesign won’t affect the way campaigns are structured or run. The focus is on updating the way data is displayed and what is shown when.
There are a few things that can be gleaned from the Google-supplied
screenshot below (click to enlarge). In the image on the left, the
Campaigns and ad groups are shown in the left-hand navigation, as
they are now, but clicking on an individual campaign brings up a
dashboard view that Google is calling an “Overview” screen.
Overviews will be available at the campaign, ad group and ad levels. They show a graphical snapshot of performance — kind of like a more narrowly focused and easier-to-read version of the account-level Home screen in AdWords now. In this view, there are four main metrics surfaced with Clicks and Conversions highlighted and charted below. Then there is a Top ad groups snapshot, as well as an at-a-glance view of the performance split across Devices.
Reference from - searchengineland.com
On Monday, the company announced the start of a major redesign process aimed at rejuvenating the AdWords interface. The last time Google touched up AdWords was way back in 2008.
It’s a major undertaking that aims at addressing a number of issues and wishes raised by advertisers. “This re-imagining process is going to take some time, but we’re excited to finally talk about what we’ve been working on for the past year, year and a half,” said Paul Feng, AdWords product management director, by phone last week. AdWords head Jerry Dischler hinted at this overhaul in a keynote discussion at SMX Advanced in Seattle last June, now we are getting the first glimpse at what’s in store.
“The reason we’re rebuilding AdWords is because the world has changed so much in the past two years. AdWords is now over 15 years old and launched when Google was just figuring out what search advertising was. We rebuilt it several years ago for a desktop world — smartphones were only [a] year old. Now we are in probably the biggest shift since AdWords was introduced (and I’d argue perhaps ever) with mobile,” said Feng, “And there is now increased demand on marketers and on AdWords as a platform — advertisers are running ads in search, display, shopping, mobile, video. Ultimately, that’s why we’re re-imagining AdWords.”
Feng said the redesign has been informed largely by talking to advertisers across the spectrum. Three common themes emerged. First, advertisers said it felt like AdWords has been built around products and features, rather than marketers’ needs and objectives. “How the navigation is laid out can be un-intuitive and comes with a high learning curve,” said Feng. Second, the platform has grown complex, with hundreds of features launching every year that stack up on each other. And third, the basic design looks and feels kind of dated. “The goal is to create a flexible platform for the future,” added Feng.
The redesign is based on Google’s design language, Material Design, that is used in many of its consumer products, like Gmail, Maps and Search.
We asked Feng what’s changing, what isn’t, and when we’re going to get to see this in real life.
Is any functionality changing?
No. Unlike the Enhanced Campaigns update, for example, the redesign won’t affect the way campaigns are structured or run. The focus is on updating the way data is displayed and what is shown when.
What are some examples of what’s going to change?
Overviews will be available at the campaign, ad group and ad levels. They show a graphical snapshot of performance — kind of like a more narrowly focused and easier-to-read version of the account-level Home screen in AdWords now. In this view, there are four main metrics surfaced with Clicks and Conversions highlighted and charted below. Then there is a Top ad groups snapshot, as well as an at-a-glance view of the performance split across Devices.
Reference from - searchengineland.com
