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If you’ve been paying attention to the news in SEO lately, you’d have noticed news stories like “Four Ads on Top: the Wait is Over.” These headlines are referring to Google’s recent decision to alter its SERPs to display four ads at the top of the page, and remove sponsored ads in the space adjacent to the search results on the right-hand side. While it may not seem like this is big news in the world of SEO, it is. The new SERP layout is much more inbound-friendly and much less welcoming for traditional, cold advertisements. This creates a better user experience and produces SERPs that are more useful, relevant, and easy to navigate than they’ve ever been before! To see exactly where the ads used to be, refer to the below screenshot, question mark referring to the empty space where sponsored ads were: Google Says Goodbye to Right-Hand Sponsored Ads: What This Means for Marketers So what’s this “Huzzah!” attitude all about? How does this change affect marketers and their rankings in the SERPs? How will it affect you and your content? Here’s what you need to know about this new change. What the New SERPs Look Like If you’ve searched for a high-volume keyword lately, you’ll notice that the SERPs look a bit different. Before this recent Google update, ads appeared at the top, bottom, and right side of organic search results. Now, however, they look like this for competitive search terms, with a clean slate on the right side. Cheers, Google – you look so tidy! While the change didn’t affect the ads that appear below the search results, it did do away with those to the sponsored ads to the right of the search results. This leaves more room for organic search rankings and throws inbound marketing into a whole new world of importance. Why Google Made the Change As far as most content marketer experts can guess, the primary reason behind this new feature is user convenience. Displaying ads in two places rather than tree creates a simplified user experience and makes mobile search easier than ever, which is something Google now sees as a major priority (As evidenced by recent algorithm changes). Additionally, top-placed ads seem to simply perform better in terms of clicks and traffic than side-placed ads. In light of this, Google’s new change streamlines a page and focuses traffic while also enhancing user experience. How The New Ad Placement Will Affect Organic Search The introduction of four ads above SERPs will have an effect on search, but primarily for marketers who are paying for sponsored ads rather than creating valuable content. Because the new ad structure places more importance on organic search, it stands to reason that marketers who focus their attention on creating quality content and optimizing their material for organic search success will perform better in the new environment. While this new change has shocked many content marketers, it’s clear that it is simply one in a series of Google changes (including Knowledge Graph and Featured Snippet) that are meant to provide users with relevant, quality results without intrusive advertising. 4 Ways Content Marketers Can Cope With Google’s Sponsored Ad Changes Again, Google’s most recent changes really only present a challenge to people who have been relying heavily on sponsored ads. For everyone else, it’s more of a pivot than a change. In light of Google’s new ad placements, the importance of organic, quality content is going to be more important than ever. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that you appear prominently in the new SERP layout. 1. Review your sponsored ads now If you’re a content marketer that has invested in Google’s sponsored ads, and you’ve got live campaigns going on, check on their position and appearance from your dashboard. If your ads aren’t where you want them to be, it’s important to consider how you can alter them to perform better. While you can do this a few different ways (increasing your bid, boosting your position for the keywords you’re targeting, or increasing your quality score), the best way to go about it is to take a comprehensive approach to increase your ad’s performance. Don’t jump to increase your bid first thing. Instead, seek to make changes that will improve your quality score. This means making your text more relevant and helpful and ensuring that you’re targeting keywords properly. 2. Shift your focus to content Google has made it painfully clear over the last several years that content is the king of the game and that’s especially true with this recent change. While sponsored ads used to rank on the same level as organic ads, the tables have turned and sponsored ads have left the building. In light of this, it’s important to shift your company’s focus to how you can create quality content Google will want to rank well. Content marketers focusing on just that–content marketing–will do well to boost and improve the quality of that focus. A Little Case Study From Moi Yours truly, Julia from Express Writers speaking here: we’ve been in business for five years and we’ve never used a sponsored ad. Instead, we’ve taken all of the money we could have poured into purchasing ad space and we’ve allocated it to creating content. By hiring quality writers, focusing on publishing relevant, long-form content on our blog, and creating guidelines that genuinely answer our reader’s questions, we’ve gained more than 300 positions in Google rankings through organic content alone. We’re proof that it is possible, and you can get there, too! If you’re a little unsettled by Google’s new SERP structure, consider how you can re-allocate your resources. If you’ve been purchasing sponsored ads with the majority of your marketing budget, focus on creating content instead. Guides, in-depth, long-form, how-to content, and relevant blog posts are all sure-fire ways to draw more readers to your content and gain SERP prominence without spending money on sponsored ads. Because the new layout of Google’s SERPs is much more … Read more