Google is testing a feature that allows the same advertiser to appear twice on a single search results page, which seemingly breaks Google’s own existing ad policies.
What’s happening. Anthony Higman, CEO of ADSQUIRE, noticed two ads from the same advertiser appearing simultaneously in search results (SERPs) over the past two weeks. He shared his concerns on LinkedIn.
This conflicts with Google’s stated policy:
- “We’ll show only one ad per account for a particular keyword.”
Google’s response. Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, clarified that this is part of a controlled experiment to test new ad configurations.
She told advertisers:
- No immediate action is required.
- The experiment’s outcomes will be evaluated based on advertiser and user value.
Why we care. Google’s double-serving test could impact competition and ad performance. It could also potentially alter the cost dynamics of search ads. With multiple reports already showing that costs of search ads have been increasing, this is a real concern to ensure that having multiple ads showing for a keyword actually comes with increased revenue and not just cost.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
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