Google Tweaks Search Results to Punish Ad-Heavy Websites

Google has tweaked its search algorithm to punish websites with excessive advertising above-the-fold, that is, websites that stack the top of the page with nothing but advertisements.

According to Google, rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. To help users get to that content, Google may drop ad-heavy websites from its search results.

Google says that the change will only affect about one in 100 searches, and emphasizes that websites using what Google’s Distinguished Engineer and SEO guru Matt Cutts calls ads above-the-fold to a normal degree will not be affected — via redwolf.newsvine.com