Google has changed how it displays Search ads across the search results page. In a new update shared by the company, Google will now allow ads from the same advertiser to appear at the top and bottom of the same results page, if the ads are relevant. “With this change, we will now allow relevant Search ads from advertisers who showed amongst top ads to also participate in the bottom ads auction,” the company wrote.

This is different from the way ads were previously displayed. Google says “Search ads from a given advertiser were generally restricted to a single ad location on a given page.”  

This means that ads shown at the top of the page, couldn’t be displayed in any other position. Ads couldn’t show up at the bottom, even if it made sense contextually. But now, Google is relaxing that restriction. The platform says the goal is to “reduce friction” and improve ad relevance. 

How the ad will appear at the top and bottom of the search results

According to Google, ads will be optimized independently for each placement, and advertisers won’t necessarily see the same ad in both positions on a search page. The company says it won’t just duplicate the same ad at the top and bottom of the search results page. Instead, it will choose the most relevant ad for each placement separately. 

Google will also select the ad to show according to ad relevance. It will surface ads it believes are most relevant to users for each spot based on factors like user intent, ad quality, and context. Even if it's the same advertiser, the ad copy at the bottom might be different from what's shown at the top.

Google says the change is about user behavior

According to Google, the change is rooted in user experience insights. The company says it observed that users don’t always click top results right away. Users often scroll down the page to explore more options and then scroll back up when they realize the top results are more relevant.

Google says it plans to offer more relevant ads wherever users end up looking on the page. Now, according to the company, when users navigate to the bottom and see ads from an advertiser they saw earlier, it’s by design not a duplication, but a continuation of relevance.

For instance, when a user search for a product like “running shoes.” The user may see an ad from Nike at the top. If the user keeps scrolling to check out more options, they might see another Nike ad still relevant to their search at the bottom of the page. 

‍