Site speed, keyword use and incoming links all impact a website’s ranking on Google and other search engines. Now you can also add page layout to the list.
Google recently added a new page layout algorithm which can negatively impact your page rank. In an effort to enhance customer experiences, Google plans to penalize sites with ads placed primarily at the top of a website.
The Right Ad Mix
According to Google, the new algorithm impacts less than 1% of searches. Pop-ups, pop-unders and overlay ads are not considered in the new algorithm. Google stresses the change impacts only the sites that have a large number of ads above the fold (the area that users do not have to scroll down in order to read).
SearchMetrics regularly charts the page ranking losers impacted by Google algorithm changes. A few of the top sites recently dropping down in page rank include IMDB, Facebook, Rotten Tomatoes,
LA Times and Amazon. While it’s not clear if this new algorithm is directly responsible for the drop in rank or if other factors are at play, it does show that even the most popular websites are seeing some impact.
Should You Worry?
As long as the content located at the top of your site outweighs the advertisements, there’s no need to worry. If your site is ad heavy, you might want to take notice as the new algorithm is really intended to punish sites that rely more heavily on ads than content.
The Google Browser Size tool can help you determine the amount of content that is easily visible to visitors when landing on your site. To check, simply visit the Google Browser Size tool and input your web address. You’ll get a quick glimpse of the content visible when individuals land on your site. If all you see is ads, you might want to think about redesigning your site so ads aren’t the only thing your visitors see when landing on your site.
In essence, the change encourages businesses to focus on ad placement that doesn’t impact the user experience. A few things to keep in mind to minimize the impact of this new algorithm:
Focus on User-Friendly Design. Sites that greet customers with tons of ads don’t create the best experience and don’t do much to build trust. Use the top of your page to promote content sought after by your customers, instead of ads.
Incoming Links – Incoming links coming from ad-heavy sites may be downgraded by the Google algorithm change. Their downgrade may impact your site ranking as well.
Make Changes – If your site is downgraded due to heavy ads at the top-of-the-fold, now is the time to make changes to your site. The changes will be reflected once Google has a chance to re-crawl the content of your site. It may take many weeks to for the penalty to be lifted.
In the end, this change will make websites better and search results more relevant. After all, few things are more frustrating than clicking on a search engine result and landing on a website with no content and a bunch of ads.