Google allows users to hide sponsored results when searching for desired information, which could shake up your advertising plan. Here’s what you could do.
Google is testing a new feature that lets users collapse sponsored results after viewing them. For advertisers, this could shake up click rates and bidding strategies. This means your PPC click-through rates will likely drop as more users immediately hit the “Hide sponsored results” button to collapse those ads. Here’s what the data might tell us and how to adapt your ad creative before everyone starts hiding your ads.
How does Google’s allowing users to hide sponsored results impact your Google Ads CTR?
Your Google ads CTR is your click-through rate, which shows how often users are clicking on your ads to review what you’ve got to offer. With this new Google-sponsored results feature, many advertisers will have to think about the impact on Google search ads with these changes, which might mean fewer clicks and a higher cost per click, thanks to these search results changes. While this feature could mean fewer of your sponsored and paid-for ads will be chosen, there is a shining light in this tunnel.
What should advertisers focus on now?
With the new Google feature that allows users to hide sponsored results, marketing teams have to be more vigilant about using ad creative testing to measure how organic advertising content performs. A change in focus from paid advertising to organic search ad performance could be the shift that your team should focus on. This doesn’t mean abandoning paid advertising, but your organic content will have a much better chance of being seen and clicked on, especially for users who use this new feature to hide sponsored results on the Google SERPs.
Organic SEO advertising strategies to thwart the new Google hide sponsored results feature
Content matters
It’s important to create keyword lists and understand which keywords will work for your marketing strategy, but nothing is quite as impactful as great content. Google has gotten smarter, and high-quality writing and content that attracts the interest of many viewers will climb the rankings quickly. Google rewards content virality heavily in its algorithm, which means if you have great content that has gone viral, it’s going to skyrocket to the top of SERPs.
Cluster your content
Your expertise in your industry matters to Google. Although Google now offers a way for users to hide sponsored results, if your organic content is clustered around your expertise with relevant topics and content based on your company’s products and services, your content has a much better chance of ranking high. This creates authority within your industry and allows you to create spokes of content around your hub of information. Be an authority in your industry and you’ll be rewarded with higher SERP rankings.
Consolidation can be impactful
Unless you’re running an A and B testing strategy, you don’t need to have multiple pages with similar content pointing back to your pages. If you have two pages that cover similar topics and target the same keywords, you should consider consolidating these pages into one. You could have a duplicate content issue, and the pages will be “fighting each other” for rankings. This isn’t the type of competition you need, and one strong page can be much better for your SEO results than two that compete for the same position.
Recency matters
You’ve invested in content for a long time, but have you ever gone back and refreshed your old content? Some evergreen content doesn’t take long to refresh and could quickly move up the rankings simply by having a recent date. The more up to date your content pages are, the better chance your organic content has of reaching high on the SERPs. Some content pages will be outdated and not worth refreshing, but not all. Make sure you actually improve the content with significant changes, not just a date change.
Add videos to your pages
If users spend more time on your pages, they will rank higher in the Google algorithm. This time on page is called dwell time and it’s a crucial factor for search engine ranking. Google might allow users to hide sponsored results, which decreases your PPC effectiveness, but if you add videos to your content pages, there a chance users will stay and watch the videos while also reading the written content you offer them. This will increase the dwell time and increase your page ranking.
Now that Google allows users to hide sponsored results, your organic content has a greater chance of ranking higher on SERPs. Don’t abandon paid advertising, but maybe shift your focus to your organic content to balance the impact on your PPC.
