Google has done away with the archaic and confusing formula for displaying ad extensions with the introduction of a new policy. With this new policy, the impact of ad formats in the ad rank formula has been changed, and Google is now able to provide an estimate of an ad’s visibility in the search results pages.
Going forward, the visibility of an ad is dependent on ad position and ad formats. This means ads with higher positions will be able to display more ad extensions than ads in lower positions. Ads which do not make the top position will no longer be able to display more ad formats than the than those ads above them.
Ad formats are those visual extensions that appear on search ads which prominently display information about a business. This could include anything such as phone number, address, consumer ratings, website URL, and so on.
The greatest benefit to advertisers as a result of this change is that if they manage to score a top position, and they have ad extensions set up it’s a lot more likely that those extensions will be displayed in search results regularly. Another benefit is that top position ads will be less likely to be overshadowed by lower position ads featuring extensions.
Hot tip to Eric Sagan of WordStream for first reporting on this development.
