When a site loses organic traffic, the first question is usually, "Which algorithm update hit us?" Sometimes the honest answer is: none. In February 2016, thousands of sites saw fewer organic clicks on commercial searches without any ranking change at all. The reason was not an algorithm. Google had rearranged the page.
On February 19, 2016, Google began removing ads from the right-hand side of desktop search results worldwide. At the same time, it started showing four ads above the organic results instead of three for highly commercial searches. Your website could stay at position one and still slide further down the screen.
Let me explain what changed, what the data said about clicks and costs afterwards, and how you can tell a layout change like this apart from a real ranking update. You can see this change in context in our Google algorithm updates timeline.
The right-side ads removal at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Date | Rollout began Friday, February 19, 2016; expected to be complete by February 22, 2016 |
| Type | Search results layout and ads policy change, not an organic ranking update |
| Confirmed by Google? | Yes, to Search Engine Land |
| What changed | No more text ads in the right column on desktop; up to four ads on top for highly commercial queries; ads also at the bottom |
| Exceptions | Product Listing Ad (Shopping) boxes and Knowledge Panel areas could still appear on the right |
| Scope | Worldwide, all languages, desktop |
| Who was affected | Advertisers in lower ad positions; organic results on commercial queries pushed down |
What the desktop results page looked like before and after
Before February 2016, a commercial desktop search such as "car insurance" or "buy running shoes" often showed up to three ads at the top, a column of ads down the right side, and sometimes ads at the bottom. The right-hand ads were smaller and less noticeable, and they did not push organic results down.
After the change, the right column was cleared of text ads. Ads now appeared only at the top and bottom of the results. According to Search Engine Land's history column, Google added a fourth top ad for "highly commercial queries."
Google explained the reasoning only briefly:
“We've been testing this layout for a long time.”
— Google, as reported by Search Engine Land, Search marketing history: February 19
Google also said the layout was "designed for highly commercial queries." The same history column notes that the test had started in 2010, expanded significantly in 2015 and ran mostly outside the US.
The exceptions on the right
The right side did not become completely empty. Search Engine Watch reported two exceptions:
- Product Listing Ads (now called Shopping ads) could still show in a box on the right.
- Knowledge Panel boxes, the information panels about businesses, people and things, could still appear on the right, sometimes with ads inside them.
So for product searches, the right side still mattered. For service and lead-generation searches, it mostly went quiet.
Why Google made the change
Google did not publish a detailed rationale, so let me separate what was said from what was guessed.
- Said by Google: It had tested the layout for a long time and designed it for highly commercial queries.
- Reported by the industry: Search Engine Watch cited The Media Image, which said Google found "the average click-through-rate for Right Hand Side Ads is poor across verticals."
- Widely assumed: The change made desktop look more like mobile, where there was never a right column. Wordtracker's 2016 review made the same point.
- Speculated: Fewer ad slots would raise competition and cost per click, which could increase Google's revenue per search.
This was part of a bigger trend that year. A few months earlier, Google had cut the local pack from seven listings to three, again moving desktop closer to the mobile design. And just five days after the ads change, Google launched AMP pages in mobile search, a clear sign of how mobile-focused Google was that winter.
What happened to ad clicks and costs
Several agencies and platforms published data after the change. They used different samples and time frames, so treat their numbers as direction, not hard science. Here is a summary of three studies I could check:
| Study | When | Key findings |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Advertising Report (via SEJ) | April 2016, three months of data | CTR up 13% in position 1, flat in position 2, up 2% in position 3, up 18% in position 4. CPC up 6% and 7% in positions 1 and 2, down 8% and 10% in positions 3 and 4. |
| Periscopix client data (via DMA) | About seven months after the change | Ad slots on page one fell from 11 to 7. Impressions dropped about 35% in the week of removal; clicks were far more stable. Position 3 CTR more than doubled. |
| Accuracast (via Search Engine Land) | About 2 million searches a year before vs. 2 million a year after | CTR up 72.4% in position 3 and 51.9% in position 4; position 5, now at the bottom, down 7.6%. Top four slots combined up 49%. |
The pattern is fairly consistent. Ads that made it into the top four got more clicks, especially positions three and four, which used to be the last top ad or the first right-side ad. Ads that fell below the organic results lost visibility, and smaller advertisers bidding on cheaper keywords felt it most. Adobe's report noted roughly a 10% drop in clicks for those cheaper, lower-position keywords.
Search Engine Land's summary of the Accuracast study put it simply:
“On the whole, CTRs for the top four ad slots have risen 49 percent since the change.”
— Search Engine Land, Study of 4 million Google searches charts the CTR payoff that came from eliminating right-side ads
One caution: Accuracast did not control for expanded text ads, which rolled out in late July 2016. So part of the change over a full year could come from other factors.
What happened to organic results
For SEO, the effect was more about screen position than ranking. On a commercial query with four top ads, the first organic result sat lower on the page than before. On a typical laptop screen, that could mean the first organic listing was barely visible without scrolling.
I have not found a large, reliable study that measured the organic click loss from this specific change, so I won't invent a number. What we can say with confidence is:
- Informational searches (like "how to fix a leaking tap") usually showed few or no ads, so they were barely affected.
- Highly commercial searches (like "emergency plumber near me" or "best credit card") were most affected, because those triggered the fourth top ad.
- Rankings in tools stayed the same, while click-through rate in Search Console could fall.
This is exactly why I always tell clients to look beyond rank tracking. I explain the difference in rankings vs traffic: measuring update impact the right way.
A worked example: same rank, fewer clicks
Here is a hypothetical example to show how this plays out. The numbers are illustrative only.
A law firm ranks first organically for "personal injury lawyer Denver." Search Console shows 10,000 desktop impressions a month. Before the change, with three top ads, suppose its organic click-through rate was 12%, giving 1,200 clicks.
After the change, a fourth ad appears on most of those searches. The firm's average position stays at 1.0, but the listing sits lower on the screen. If the click-through rate drops to 9%, the firm gets 900 clicks. That is 300 fewer visits a month with no ranking change at all.
If the firm's analyst only looked at rank tracking, they would see nothing wrong. Only the click-through rate in Search Console would reveal the issue.
Not an algorithm update: how to tell the difference
The right-side ads removal is a perfect case study of a SERP layout change that looks like an update in your traffic graphs. Here is the checklist I use to tell them apart:
- Check average position in Search Console. If position held steady but clicks fell, a layout change is likely.
- Compare impressions and click-through rate. Stable impressions with lower CTR points to something on the results page taking attention.
- Split by query type. If only commercial queries dropped and informational ones held, ads or shopping features are a likely cause.
- Split by device. The 2016 change was desktop only. A desktop-only drop is a strong clue.
- Look at the actual results page. Search your top terms and note what sits above your listing today versus a few months ago.
- Check Google's announcements. Confirmed algorithm updates appear on Google's Search Status Dashboard. Layout and ads changes often appear only in industry news or Google Ads announcements.
I go deeper into this in not every traffic change is an update: SERP layout changes explained. If you are new to reading the results page, our free lesson on understanding the search results page covers the basics.
How this connects to Google's old page layout algorithm
There is an irony here. In 2012, Google launched the page layout algorithm, which demoted websites that showed too many ads above the fold. Four years later, Google's own desktop results showed more ads above the fold on commercial searches.
That does not mean Google was breaking its own rule. The page layout algorithm judged websites in the organic results, not Google's own interface. But it is a useful reminder that Google treats its results page as its own product, and it will change that product whenever it decides to.
What this change means for advertisers and SEOs today
Desktop results look different again in 2026, with AI Overviews, more Shopping units and other features. But the lessons from 2016 still apply.
| If you are... | Lesson from 2016 | What to do now |
|---|---|---|
| An advertiser in a competitive niche | Only the top slots get meaningful clicks | Focus budget on fewer, high-intent keywords where you can afford a top position |
| A small advertiser on a tight budget | Bottom-of-page ads lose visibility | Use tighter match types, ad scheduling and location targeting rather than spreading thin |
| An SEO on commercial keywords | Rank one does not guarantee the first screen | Track click-through rate as well as rank; target long-tail and informational terms too |
| A business owner | Paid and organic compete for the same space | Plan SEO and PPC together, not separately |
If you run Google Ads, our guide to improving Quality Score explains how ad quality affects whether you reach the top slots without overpaying.
Questions marketers ask about the 2016 right-side ads change
Was the removal of right-side ads an algorithm update?
No. It was a change to the layout of Google's results page and its ad placements. Organic rankings were not changed by it, but organic listings could appear lower on the screen.
Did mobile results change too?
The removal applied to desktop. Mobile results never had a right column. The goal was partly to make desktop look more like mobile.
Did advertisers pay more after the change?
Results varied. Adobe's data showed cost per click rising in positions one and two and falling in positions three and four. Periscopix saw top-of-page costs rise in most verticals. It depended on industry and competition.
Do Shopping ads still appear on the right side of desktop results?
In 2016, Shopping ads and Knowledge Panels were the exceptions that could still appear on the right. Today's layouts vary by query, so check the real results page for your own products.
Checking your commercial keywords after a layout change
In brief, February 2016 was a reminder that your traffic depends not only on where you rank but on what Google puts above you. The removal of right-side ads gave paid listings more prominence on commercial searches and pushed organic results further down, all without touching a single ranking.
The practical habit to take away is simple: whenever traffic changes, check position and click-through rate together, split by query type and device, and look at the real results page before blaming an update.
If you want an expert view on balancing paid and organic search for your business, explore our PPC management and SEO services, or get a free quote.
Google updates around the same time
Before this update:
- Panda Joins the Core Algorithm (January 2016): The End of Panda Refreshes (Jan 2016)
- Google Rankbrain (Oct 2015)
After this update:
- AMP in Google Mobile Search (February 2016): The Top Stories Carousel Arrives (Feb 2016)
- Google Retires Toolbar PageRank (March 2016): The End of a Public Metric (Mar 2016)
Or browse every Google update on one timeline, newest first.
Sources for this right-side ads removal guide
- Search Engine Watch: Google is removing all right-hand side ads on SERPs worldwide
- Search Engine Land: Search marketing history, February 19
- Search Engine Land: Study of 4 million Google searches charts the CTR payoff from eliminating right-side ads
- Search Engine Journal: Adobe study on AdWords positions 1 to 4
- DMA: How did the removal of right hand ads impact UK advertisers?
- Wikipedia: Timeline of Google Search
- Wordtracker: What did Google do in 2016?
