4 ms·

Doesn't this break Google's own rule of 3 ads above the fold? Or do ads that are integrated well into the page not count?

jaredmck 11y ago
Google has consistently operated as "do as I say, not as I do". They've rolled out these 4 ads above the fold off and on, in addition to Product Ads, and Hotel/Insurance comparison ads. Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.
tyingq 11y ago
It has the nice side effect of pushing down the organic results. On a 1440x900 screen, I see only 1 organic result above the fold for most "purchase intent" queries now. It feels like there must be insane internal pressure to continue the double-digit percentage YoY gains in ad clicks.
- aantix 11y ago
  It always felt disingenuous on Googles part to first display a paid ad for the site that I googled when the first organic result is also for that site. If i google for eBay, and i unknowingly click the first "result", why should eBay be charged a click through on that? Bull shit.
Klathmon 11y ago
That rule is about individual ad units in adsense. A single adsense "unit" can (and very routinely does) include multiple adwords ads. This isn't adsense, so they don't really need to follow those rules (and wouldn't need to anyway because they are the rulemakers). But even aside from that, in a way they just made a current "block" of ads larger.
- tyingq 11y ago
  It is funny though, that for non-google properties, the advice is: "This algorithmic change...affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page." If you equate "the organic results" with "original content", the irony is thick.
  - hnmcs 11y ago
    But of course. Yet I can see the other side of the coin -- that they are right to downrank others for this (or at least: that it is a useful heuristic for judging other websites), even while at the same time they are right to frontload ads on their own results pages. Their best research probably suggests they should lay it out this way, as has been said elsewhere in the discussion. Nevertheless, I personally downranked Google Search about 6 years ago, when I could see how far it was already from any idealized concept I had of it, as a (reliable, objective) library-style index search program for internet pages, which would just report back things honestly, like a database query.

jaredmck 11y ago

Google has consistently operated as "do as I say, not as I do". They've rolled out these 4 ads above the fold off and on, in addition to Product Ads, and Hotel/Insurance comparison ads. Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

tyingq 11y ago

It has the nice side effect of pushing down the organic results. On a 1440x900 screen, I see only 1 organic result above the fold for most "purchase intent" queries now. It feels like there must be insane internal pressure to continue the double-digit percentage YoY gains in ad clicks.

aantix 11y ago
It always felt disingenuous on Googles part to first display a paid ad for the site that I googled when the first organic result is also for that site. If i google for eBay, and i unknowingly click the first "result", why should eBay be charged a click through on that? Bull shit.

Klathmon 11y ago

That rule is about individual ad units in adsense. A single adsense "unit" can (and very routinely does) include multiple adwords ads. This isn't adsense, so they don't really need to follow those rules (and wouldn't need to anyway because they are the rulemakers). But even aside from that, in a way they just made a current "block" of ads larger.

tyingq 11y ago
It is funny though, that for non-google properties, the advice is: "This algorithmic change...affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page." If you equate "the organic results" with "original content", the irony is thick.
- hnmcs 11y ago
  But of course. Yet I can see the other side of the coin -- that they are right to downrank others for this (or at least: that it is a useful heuristic for judging other websites), even while at the same time they are right to frontload ads on their own results pages. Their best research probably suggests they should lay it out this way, as has been said elsewhere in the discussion. Nevertheless, I personally downranked Google Search about 6 years ago, when I could see how far it was already from any idealized concept I had of it, as a (reliable, objective) library-style index search program for internet pages, which would just report back things honestly, like a database query.