# Google Removing Paid Ads in Sidebar



## Brandon Doyle (Nov 20, 2015)

I wanted to give everyone a heads up -- *Google is removing paid ads in their search sidebar.*

This means you'll no longer see pay per click (PPC) ads on the right side of your screen for searches like "painting company in [city]" or "interior painting [city], [st]".

_*What Does This Mean for YOUR PPC Campaigns?*_

If you're investing money in Google AdWords (or work with a PPC management company), PPC ads just got more expensive. It's supply and demand. Demand stayed the same, but supply decreased, making PPC bids more expensive for service contractors -- painters included.

*Why Is Google Doing This?*

Google is a business, and it doesn't make money through organic search, so it needs to increase profits elsewhere, making pay per click the perfect option. Not to mention, roughly 80% of Google's revenue is earned through PPC spend.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

So why would Google give up it's PPC real estate? Interesting. They have been experimenting with 4 ads at the top. They would likely do that and also expand and monetize the local results as expected.


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## Jared From RankNova (Feb 15, 2016)

George Z,

The sidebar ads performed poorly for Google. People typically view pages in an F pattern -- they'll scan the headline and sub-headline, then down the left side of the page. The right side (sidebar) gets ignored, for the most part.

To make up for the lack of sidebar ads, Google's adding a fourth ad to commercial keywords (and possibly beyond), as well as adding more ads to the bottom of the page.

This will likely lead to a lesser number of ads, but a higher cost per click, coupled with more total clicks (better-performing placements), meaning more overall $$$ for Google.

The rich get richer . . .


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

The marketplace will decide the cost per click. It has been decreasing recently, not increasing.
Google realizes it's competition is not the organic results and it now exists outside Google and in Facebook and other places.
Less organic results means less reasons for anyone to Google anything.


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## thomesallen (Mar 24, 2016)

Well it's actually making it more competitive, there are lot of other ventures of Google from where it earns but Adwords is definitely the biggest. They have made tons of changes in these last few months including the google listings.


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## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

what does this mean for the organic search?


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

Dave Mac said:


> what does this mean for the organic search?


All natural?:whistling2:


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## Ultimate (Mar 20, 2011)

Dave Mac said:


> what does this mean for the organic search?



It means - On mobile organic doesn't show until there is a scroll. It means Home Advisor has the most to pay and it will dominate that top half of the fold. It means we have to educate the consumers to look past the top half of the fold, or pay to be there. OR It means use other methods of advertising/marketing. 

Face to face, handshakes, refer a friend incentives, great service with a reason to want you back again, hit the neighbors with flyers before you leave. Yard signs. Graphics on vehicles. 

Google is great. I hope they get rich with all of my competitors money vying for their coveted top spot. They can have it.


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## LakewoodPaintingPro (Jul 2, 2016)

Google is always keeping us on our toes!! Thanks for the great info on this thread


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## bocaratonpainters (Aug 17, 2016)

The more ways you get leads the better. People use google ads because they work. having good mouth to mouth is great at the same time building an online presence is essential to expand into different markets. Once you begin with one site the other ones get easy.


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