Google Adwords changes could damage your business…

Please forgive the somewhat melodramatic title for this post.  However, it is our belief that the recent Google Adwords changes (February 2016) will have a massive affect on all businesses who are reliant on either PPC (paid search) or organic (natural) traffic.

Google has fundamentally changed the way that it displays its Google AdWords results. By removing the side bar adverts from the right-hand column of the browser, Google has down-graded the value of not only organic listings but also those advertisers who are unable to place their adverts in the TOP FOUR positions.

Why is this important?

Old Google Adwords Results

This means that adverts that most of adverts that were previously positioned on the right of the screen (positions 5-11) are now relegated to the bottom of the page. The advert in position 4 will now move above the organic results.

Research has shown that for a lot of  search terms, position 5 generated the highest ROI for clients due to the cheaper CPC and highly visible position at the top of the page. Google’s update changes everything.

New Google Adwords Search Results

This is really bad news for people who used rank their adverts in position 4, 5, 6 or 7 and enjoy lower CPC (Cost Per Click) prices.  Although advert position is not just about click budget, advertisers are bidding much more to be in the top four positions.  Google’s profits are therefore soaring!

Although Google claims this change has taken place to bring desktop results into line with mobile results, it’s pretty clear that this change was really about economics. What’s more, by shunting down organic results by another notch, organic listings are further devalued.  Afterall, natural traffic doesn’t earn Google any money!

What should you do?

Get the PPC Agency / person that runs your AdWords campaigns to check for high performing Adgroups with an average position of 5 or lower.

These are the campaigns that are likely to be impacted most by the AdWords change.  Advertisers who were previously getting great results from positions 5 and above will now be forced to increase their bids to ensure that their paid placements don’t disappear.

If you are concerned about these changes and would like us to audit your account for any vulnerabilities, please get in touch. We’ll have you up and running again in no time at the very top of the tree!