{"id":19054,"date":"2016-03-01T12:30:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T16:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=19054"},"modified":"2016-03-01T23:22:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T03:22:41","slug":"4-ads-at-top-and-local-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/01\/4-ads-at-top-and-local-search\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ads At Top And Local Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been much written about Google now showing 4 ads<\/a> at the top of search. \u00a0Mostly about its impact on bidding and ad costs.<\/p>\n

Given that Google tests these things and likely has a good handle on the income implications, we can rest assured that they have not made any changes that would reduce their income. I can’t speak to whether this change\u00a0will make it harder for small businesses to compete although that has been an on-going trend.<\/p>\n

In all that has been written about the change I have yet to see notice of its non-ad impact on Local search. IE the amount that it further pushes local results down the page and below the fold.<\/p>\n

Here are two screen shots of the same search done on my Mac 13″ display,\u00a0which has an effective web resolution of\u00a01280×800. The impact is present even when Google shows only 3 ads because the ads all now can have extensions with\u00a0sitelinks, reviews etc which also take up more space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Local Search with 3 ads BEFORE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Local<\/a>
Local Search with 4 ads AFTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The affect of this is particularly noticeable when Google includes product search to the right.<\/p>\n

\"4<\/a>
4 ads with Product search<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a screen shot from my home computer with a 1440 x 900 pixel display and only 3 ads. Note that the 3 ads and the many Adword extensions push the pack out of sight even on a larger display:<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been much written about Google now showing 4 ads at the top of search. \u00a0Mostly about its impact on bidding and ad costs. Given that Google tests these things and likely has a good handle on the income implications, we can rest assured that they have not made any changes that would reduce …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-plus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t