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Google Confirms AdWords Display Changes

posted on April 5, 2007


Many eagle-eyed readers have spotted Google’s testing of a new background color for AdWords shown above the main results, over the past few days. Google has now made the official announcement which includes a couple of changes.

First, we thought it was time for a new look: after months of testing, we decided to switch the background color of the top ads from blue to yellow. Second, we’ve modified what counts as a click in this box to be consistent with what counts as a click for the ads on the right hand side. Instead of clicking anywhere in the box, users now need to click on the link in the top line of an ad in order to be taken to an advertiser’s site. Together, these changes help decrease the likelihood that a user will unintentionally click on an ad, while making our highest quality ads more visible.

Interesting that you now need to click on the actual URL, and not just any shaded AdWords area. You don’t fix anything that isn’t broken, which suggest perhaps too many people were accidentally clicking on that top AdWords spot.


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  • http://www.jasonblogs.com/ Jason Schramm

    I absolutely hate the new color. This is the second change in two weeks meant to make ads perform better, but not actually make the site look better for visitors. After years of the ads being blue they are now yellow. I guess I’m back to filtering out the ads. Google doesn’t care about experience anymore, only money. Which is good for their bottom line, but their early adopters are those who want the ads to be easily ignored.

  • http://www.bushidoblog.com.ar Dario

    I spotted the color change on their adwords a few weeks ago. Apparently they were testing it out on a few pages. Wish I would’ve shared the info back then and gained a mention… :(

  • http://www.1a-jewelry.com Fashion Jewelry

    Yes i too observed that change in color

  • http://searchenginetigers.com Simon Heseltine

    I like the change that you must now click on the text rather than just in the box for it to trigger the actual click. It’ll be interesting to see if that change alone affects click percentages by position – how many accidental clicks were happening in that box?

    As for the color change… meh.

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