I have had no problem with Google ads. First, they have traditionally been to the far right of the page next to the scrollbar. Second, these ads are how the company makes money.
Something has changed and it isn’t the money part. The ads have crept in a full two inches on my computer screen! That’s right, Google has moved its ads left to where they are almost abridging the search results.
At first I thought my laptop screen was wonky, but then I read Google Operating System and TechCrunch have picked up on this. Google confirmed the moves to TechCrunch, so it’s not my screen.
Here is what I saw when I searched for the generic “music” term:
Music ads.png
Even with that thin, fuzzy line separating the results and ad text, doesn’t it feel as if the ads are landing in your lap? Here’s a search result for “carpet installation”:
carpet ads.png
I’m not too happy with this. It’s invasive to me. I appreciate that Google wants people to better see the ads so they will click on them, enabling Google to keep its green machine flowing, but this is a bit much.
If this bothers you, too, respond in the comments. I’ll make sure to follow up with Google so they read what you have to say.
I don’t usually lobby for such change, but this is obnoxious.