It started with a test way back in 2010 and over the years has been tweaked over since then. Later people started seeing only top of the page ads in their search results. But finally Google is rolling out a change (play dramatic music here) which removes advertisements from right side of search result ads for desktops. Ads will only be placed at the top and/or bottom of the page. As per Google, this change may result in showing an additional ad i.e. fourth ad above the search results for “highly commercial queries”.
As per a Google spokesperson the change is now rolling out to all searches in all languages worldwide. There is however one exception for this right side ads not shown in search results on desktop – Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes which will continue showing ads on both to the right and to the top. The additional fourth ad that may be shown above search results will only be shown for highly commercial queries, which according to Google’s official statement is:
“We’ve been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries. We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers.”
To shed some light, these highly commercial queries would involve searches like “home insurance” or “hotels in <Place Name>”. It is important to note that this elimination of ads on right-side impacts all desktop searches worldwide. This new change will now bring about a similarity in mobile and desktop search result ads.