Google has been spotted testing a total of 14 ads in a single mobile search results page.
This test was spotted by Fibre Marketing, who shared a recording of their screen on Twitter.
Google testing new Ads setup on mobile search. 11 ads with two organic listing then 7 organic listings and finally 3 further ads #Google #SEO #GoogleAds #PPC #GoogleUpdate #SERP pic.twitter.com/NInKxKm4Hd
— Fibre (@Fibre_Marketing) January 25, 2019
As you can see in the recording, 14 ads are shown before arriving at the “More results” button at the bottom of the screen.
At the top of the page there are 4 consecutive ads, followed by two organic listings.
Then there are 7 more ads in a row, followed by 6 organic listings.
Lastly, the SERP ends with 3 more ads before the “More results” button appears.
That’s 14 paid results and 8 organic results, which is almost twice as many ads as regular search results.
It’s an egregious amount of ads no matter how you look at it. Mind you, not all mobile search results are like this.
Google is always testing different ways to display search results. What we’re likely seeing here is Google testing the waters with respect to how many ads users are willing to tolerate.
If the test goes well, meaning the number of ad clicks outweighs the negative feedback, then it’s possible we may see more SERPs like this.
The fact that Google is testing this many ads in a mobile SERP is telling, however, as it shows the lengths the company is willing to go to monetize its search results.
That’s a good sign for advertisers, but not so good for SEOs.
Although it’s hard to imagine users would let Google get away with this many ads without considerable backlash.
