Google is again testing something which brings paid results closer to organic listings. Several tweeters have reported seeing this phenomenon, calling it up to 150 characters ads. At present the test is extremely limited. The second ad above displays this test and it looks like ad text may have ben completely replaced. It’s strange because only one of the three ads is being displayed in this format.
The result is not only an ad that looks like natural SEO listings but also a quite disjointed ad, with no real connection between ad copy and line pulled from SEO. This highlights the disconnect between PPC and SEO present on many companies.
If Google proceeds with rolling this out, which I hope not, advisers will need to optimise to wherever that line is being pulled from on the landing page. It will certainly make advertisers think more carefully about relevant landing pages and users will look at sponsored ads and read their relevance to what they are looking for in the same way in which they view organic listings – treating them in the same way. In this respect, Google would probably drive more paid clicks, thus adding to their profits.
Please let me know if you have seen this and what your thoughts are below.
Update: this is called ad snippets pulled from the landing page and initial tests have increased CTR by more than 10%.
I think Google have lost it.
They started out with a great search engine that they wanted to put ads on. They made those ads separate, so the user could clearly see what was organic and what was paid for.
They’ve been testing to try to increase their ad revenue, and eventually come to the conclusion that if they make paid ads look like organic ads then they get a better CTR on paid for ads.
Posted by Paul Maddock | September 15, 2011, 12:30 pm