Update of Page Layout Algorithm Launching Today – Oct 09
Minor update of Page Layout Algorithm launching today. So probably 0.7% of English queries noticeably affected.
Google introduces this algorithm in January 19, 2012 to improve the page layout quality . So it penalize pages with too many ads in above- the-fold
Matt Cutts tweet about this update and this is neither panda nor penguin nor EMD related .
Minor weather report: Update of goo.gl/OpIDL launching today. ~0.7% of English queries noticeably affected.
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) October 9, 2012
So if you place lots of ads above the fold, your site may get affected .
What is page layout algorithm
Google introduces page layout algorithm to bring better user experience. Google always tries to bring high quality result in SERP . Read google’s explanation about this
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.
This algorithm targeting ad placement . If one page has more ‘above-the-fold’ ads and little content can be affected by this change. Today Google announces its minor update and Matt tweet that 0.7% of English queries noticeably affected.
This will not affect sites which places ‘above-the-fold’ ads to a normal degree. This penalizes the sites which places lots of ads in above -the-fold and further to load the top of the page with ads or very little original content.
How To Recover from this Update
If you believe that your site got affected by this algorithm update , reduce the number of above fold ads. Use any of these chrome extensions to see how your website would look under different screen resolutions .
Read : How to Make Your Pages Search Engine Friendly
If you make changes in your page layout wait for Google re-crawl your site . Sometimes this will take more than one week to reflect the changes.
The bottom line is you need good quality content and good page layout to get a nice user experience and bring a high rank in Google.
You can read more about this Page Layout Algorithm improvement in Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
Although above the fold advertisements have good CTR, it ruins user experience and so its better to push them a bit lower and avoid any penalties like these.
Hi Radha Krishna,
Thank you for stop by and leaving your first comment . As you said , above fold ads often perform well and help us to earn more . But we need to consider our visitors , right ? .
This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree .
I’m lucky, as I have no advertising. What is amazing though is how laser focused Google is on the user. When in doubt, focus on the content first, make money second.
Great advice Tom Watson, Make money from blog only work if we have a good audience and good search engine traffic . So my policy is first build traffic, then monetize .