AdWords Changes: Bottom Ads & Top Page Bid Estimates

Google is in the process of making some significant changes for advertisers. Two that have really intrigued me the most are: Ads showing at bottom of search results and top of page bid estimates.

Ads at Bottom of Results
A Search Engine Land reader recently found cases where additional ads were being displayed at the bottom of search engine results page. I tried multiple times to duplicate this and cannot.

When, or if, this rolls out across all SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), then it could have a big impact on activity. The assumption is this moves ads that normally appear on the second page to the first page. This could result in low-investment ads being able to gain more clicks. That’s assuming this is an add-on, not a replacement. If this means side or top ads are removed, then I know many advertisers, including myself, that will be bothered by this change.

Top of Page Estimates
On September 1, Google announced Top of Page Bid Estimates. This is similar to the current First Page Bid Estimates, which I use often. In fact, it is right next to that field in the keyword view.

This new tool allows advertisers to see the cost-per-click required for ads to appear on the top of the SERPs, instead of on the site (and now the bottom). This announcement goes along with the news allowing marketers to measure top vs. side performance.