Recent research by SE Ranking has unboxed new facts on Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and its impact on ad placement on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Various aspects including keywords, meta tags, and user behavior are taken into account when positioning ads, with the SGE algorithm constantly updating itself to current trends to optimize ad efficiency.
Businesses looking to enhance their digital marketing strategies would thus do well to understand how Google’s SGE works.
Commonly, ads can be found at the bottom of search results, but if SGE snippets are present, ads located at the top of the page take precedence, eclipsing even shopping ads, aka carousels.
This is because SGE snippets provide fast, direct answers, attracting more click-throughs and thus driving advertisers to aim for top-of-page visibility.
Ads at the end of search results may lose out on clicks if users find their answers in the SGE snippets, emphasizing the impact of SGE snippets on ad position strategy.
Despite this, shopping ads hold a certain appeal due to their visual distinctiveness.
Shopping ads are typically positioned above the SGE snippet and sectors such as ecommerce, retail, fashion, and beauty, demonstrate a higher tendency to feature shopping ads.
These sectors stand to benefit significantly from featuring shopping ads which showcase products and prices to potential customers in a direct fashion, even offering the convenience of instant purchase.
Over 100,000 keywords from 20 niches were examined by SE Ranking, gaining insights into how SGE impacts Google SERPs.
The findings revealed that search engines tend to favor more diverse SGEs, with longer length typically showing greater SERP correlation.
The research also provided insights into the influence of links on SERP performance and unveiled a relationship between niche types and SGE deployment which warrants further exploration.
The study found that ads commonly appear at the bottom of SERPs 6,499 times (35.21%) when SGE snippets with texts are active, and 4,280 times at the top (23.19%).
Times with no ads accompanying SGE snippets were tracked at 5,016 (27.17%), while shopping ads appeared 2,660 times (14.41%).
The data demonstrates a clear tendency towards positioning shopping ads above SGE snippets, with instances occurring 2,969 times (80.72%), beneath 502 times (13.65%), and in the sidebar 207 times (5.63%).
SE Ranking also disclosed a significant increase in keywords not triggering an SGE snippet, up to about 12.3% from a mere 4% in late 2023.
This development led to a vital increase in competition for SGE snippets among businesses and advertisers, stressing the importance of strong, organic brand visibility in search results beyond just ad placement.
