Google has rolled out a change to the way it displays paid advertising within the search engine results page (SERP). If you have performed a search today, you may have noticed that the SERPs pages are looking a lot different!
What has happened?
Historically, ads have always displayed within the top 3 position and along the right hand side of the page. Today, you will see that ads now only appear at the top and along the bottom on the SERPs. These changes have been rolled out worldwide and impact all business who have an online presence.
How does this impact you?
The amount of ads shown at the top of the page has increased from 3 to 4, meaning all organic listings have now been pushed another space further down the SERPs. If you are not already using Google AdWords – now is the perfect time! Find out more about the PPC services we offer.
If you are already using Google AdWords, you may now start to notice an increase in click-through-rate (CTR), but you will also no doubt see your cost-per-click (CPC) increase as a result too.
What action to take
For your AdWords account – make sure you keep an eye on your CPC, and adjust your max CPCs across your campaigns to ensure that you are always bidding to qualify for the ‘top of the page’ ad position, as these will start to get competitive now.
Increase your SEO efforts – the top organic positions now become a lot more important to businesses, so you need to ensure that your SEO strategy is rivalling your competitors’ to ensure you are ranking well. To find out how we can help, get in touch with one of SEO specialists today.
The right hand space will be reserved purely for Google Shopping and the Knowledge Graph, this will need optimising . If your business does not have any need for Google Shopping, you can help ensure that your business information is triggering a Knowledge Graph of its own. Below are some steps to follow to try and achieve this:
- Create a Google+ page and pin point your business on Google Maps
- Add Schema Tagging to your website – contact us for more details on this
- Get a Wikipedia page
As a result of these changes, we’re offering a free PPC and SEO audit to any new business enquiries. Give us a call today on 01904 21 51 51.