Google has confirmed that they are testing a new ad format for some specific types of searches. The new ad format features a huge banner ad which takes up a large percentage of the screen. There are no other ads on the page, and the organic results are pushed completely below the fold for most screen sizes.
These ads are coming up on branded searches only (for now), such as “SouthWest Airlines.” Searchers typing in that exact brand may see the giant new ads, though it doesn’t seem to come up every time. Whether Google is displaying it only on a certain percentage of queries, or there is some other trigger necessary is not yet known.
Google also hasn’t commented on what they believe the long term usage of these ads will be, if they are adopted at all. Will these ads remain strictly for large brands such as SouthWest, or will the giant ads be offered to other marketers as well. How much SouthWest is paying for these types of ads is also unknown. It seems like a banner ad of this type would be priced significantly differently than a typical ad on Google’s results page. This is especially true since there are no other ads on the page.
Of course, like all experiments run by Google, this one may just disappear and never resurface again. At this point it seems that this is a very small test. I haven’t heard of any brands other than SouthWest Airlines showing up with this type of banner ad, though there could be others out there.
What do you think of this new ad option from Google? Do you think it will catch on, or is this going to be a failed experiment by Google? Share your comments below.
