Google appears to be testing a new AdWords layout, placing ads toward the bottom of SERPs.

There may be some good news for SEO content marketing efforts: One user reports that Google is testing a new format for paid search results that places ads at the bottom of SERPs.

Wissam Dandan of LabSEO Design searched the phrase “seo” and noticed that Google AdWords listings appeared at the bottom of the page. The screen shot Dandan shared with Search Engine Land doesn’t make clear whether this pushes organic listing directly under the query field or increases the number of ads per page, and Brafton.com is not able to reproduce the results. If the former is correct, content marketing efforts may be rewarded with more visbility as more organic listings would appear above the fold.Marketers will have to wait and see if this positively impacts their organic search marketing efforts – and if Google rolls out the update.

As Brafton reported, Bing was also testing a new search ad layout, positioning paid results within organic listings. This strategy would necessitate top placement for Bing organic results if marketers wanted to be visible above the fold, but it seems Microsoft isn’t moving further with the experiment yet.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.