Dream Systems Media recently reported that Google has rolled out a feature that shows searchers paid search ads it marks as “related to” their queries. While the general functionality of Adwords will not change with the new language, it is likely that the company is looking to be more transparent about the ads it serves in search and emphasize the importance of quality content in landing pages for top placed paid search ads.
Obviously, the company also believes this language will garner more clicks for its PPC links. However, making it clear to users that these links are paid ads will alleviate any confusion they had regarding the difference between ads and organic results.
The “Why these ads” link is still housed in the top right of the paid search box to provide users a detailed explanation of the process. The new “Ads related to” text offers a quicker explanation, though, that could help businesses draw more traffic to their landing pages. Also, the “Ads related to” mark is only applied to the ads on top of SERPs, while side bar ads simply have a “Why these ads” heading. Google seems to be marking the ads on the top of the page as more relevant to searchers’ queries, and Brafton has reported that the company updated its Quality Score to give priority placement to ads with quality landing pages. The need for content marketing campaigns to support SEO and paid search is clear.
Currently, the feature is rolled out to most searches whether or not a user is logged into their Google account.
While SEO and organic results receive a bulk of the attention from Google, paid search has undergone some steady adjustments in recent months that mandate quality content for PPC campaigns. Brafton recently reported that Google has rolled out the same technology that corrects misspellings in organic search to its ads.
