Page With Too Many Ads In Header? Penalized!

Many webmasters rely on ads to monetize their content. Research has shown time and time again that ads in the header convert very well. But that’s not what Google wants to see. According to Google’s Inside Search blog, blogs with too many ads above the fold are going to be penalized. The penalties started to be applied starting January 19th. That means if you are seeing a big drop in your traffic, chances are your layout is not making Google happy.

We understand that placing ads above-the-fold is quite common for many websites; these ads often perform well and help publishers monetize online content. This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page. This new algorithmic improvement tends to impact sites where there is only a small amount of visible content above-the-fold or relevant content is persistently pushed down by large blocks of ads.

Of course, Google is quite hypocritical with this approach. The company literally makes a ton of money by shoving ads down our throats. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are folks who do not contribute anything special to the Internet and slap ads all over their pages just to make a buck or two. But some legitimate webmasters will be ruined by this latest policy by Google (let’s not forget that the company does not exactly like affiliate ads either).

With this latest move, Google continues its war against small publishers. No one argues that all publishers need to have a real business plan. But to penalize sites heavily this way while Google’s search results are filled with ads is quite alarming. Now here is the kicker. Even if you update your layout and move your ads somewhere where nobody will click on, Google won’t re-instate your rankings. It will take the search engine time to go through your pages to reflect layout changes.

Google is not small publishers’ best friend. These latest algorithm changes prove just that. But they are not something to cry about. No matter how Google penalizes your website, you always have a way to comeback by getting more active on social networking sites and adding more quality content to your site. Hoping to get free traffic from Google forever does not equate to a real business plan (which should include a real SEO strategy) anyway. At the end of the day, Google is a public company that does what is right for its shareholders. Content publishers should do the same.