There's a quiet shift happening on Google. You need to pay attention. Most importantly, you need to take action to get gains from the shift. Do nothing and well... need I say?
Recap
- The URL parameter "num=100" does not show all 100 rankings anymore.
- Most Rank trackers used this parameter to scrape all 100 rankings for their clients in one go.
- Sponsored ads were featured when the parameter was present in the url.
Update
Google sponsored ads show when the parameter &num=100 is present in the url.
Ads are still showing up on Google SERPs with the URL parameter &num=100.
See this image clearly showing Google sponsored ads when the num=100 parameter is used in the URL.
Note the num=100 parameter no longer shows all 100 rankings.
Here's another screenshot were ads are featured without the use of the num=100 parameter and all 10 pages hyperlinks are featured for users to click on/scroll down.
So what?
This means a few things. If they are not obvious to you, get help. But here's the one that matters most for you.
As ad impressions increase, CTR decreases
More impressions, same clicks, and what happens? Your CTR (Click-Through Rate) drops.
If you make decisions based on your CTR, this could be a big problem. Don't let a subtle change in Google's code undermine your entire strategy.
The game is changing. Is your strategy keeping up?
Stop making decisions on bad data. Let's fix this together.
