Google’s New Layout-Sensitive Algorithm

While millions of Americans are keeping their heads above water using Pay-Per-Click banner and text ads on their blogs and websites, Google has just announced a change to their algorithm that penalizes having too many ads with prime, “Above the Fold” placement.   Let’s dig into this change a bit and see how it might affect webmasters of all websites.

Announced on Google’s Webmaster Central blog a few days ago, the change essentially analyzes the layout of a web page and calculates the amount of content immediately visible to a user (aka “[tooltip content=”A term left over from the days of newspaper ad layouts. It means the same as above-the-scroll.” url=”” ]above the fold[/tooltip]” or “above the scroll”).

“In our ongoing effort to help you find more high-quality websites in search results,” says Google, “We’re launching an algorithmic change that looks at the layout of a webpage and the amount of content you see on the page once you click on a result.”

The new page layout algorithm may force more than just advertising revenue-based businesses to reconsider the placement and overall layout of their home and landing pages to accommodate more search engine visible content above the fold.

Again, according to Google:

“If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above the fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience. Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.”

What astounds me is the conflicting information given to AdSense Publishers on “Where to place Google Ads on pages”.  The strongest performing locations – in the darkest orange in the graphic to the left – are exactly the location Google might penalize website owners for displaying their ads.

Confused?  I don’t blame you.

There is clearly a lot of room for interpretation with this change and it’s pretty obvious what they’re trying to do.  The WAY they are getting there makes little sense to me, but let’s talk about what to do now that it’s here…

So, what should I do?!

If you’ve followed Google’s guidance on ad placement all along – particularly as an Adsense publisher – just continue doing what you’ve been doing. Google is taking a hard line in the enforcement of the very ambiguous optimal user experience, but it doesn’t take a usability expert to know that ad-filled pages that emphasize ad clicks over content do not satisfy the “user experience” need.

Should you, in the next few days or weeks, find your ranking falling and suspect that this “above the fold” algorithm change may be at fault, take a good hard look at your layout and see if you do, indeed, have way too much great content below the fold.

If you want to be a little more proactive, start with Google’s Browser Size tool, or Ben Beckford’s Resolution Test (a Chrome browser extension) and test to see what users of different screen resolutions are actually seeing above the scroll on your site.  If you feel you’re not providing them the optimal user experience (or at least can see why Google thinks you’re not), consider making some changes.

Whether you’re an ad-based business or just a business with a website, we have always recommended looking at content above the fold as a powerful part of your on-Page SEO strategy.