The latest in approximately 500 Google algorithm tweaks planned for 2012 by Google has just been rolled out. Google have called it the page layout algorithm improvement. It effects sites that display adverts mainly too heavily on the top or as it is known as “above the fold” of the page. So what difference will this make to  seo or even web design?

This refers mainly to the top third of a web page. Affiliate sites and sites that are predominantly made up of ad’s will be knocked back in the search results. If you have several ad’s promoting your own services about the fold, you may want to address this. It’s all about as Google says, the user experience.

Bad User Experience

When a browser clicks onto your website and they find it difficult to locate your content Google now considers this to be creating a bad user experience. And if your website falls into this category they can hit you were it hurts, with a drop in rankings. Usually affiliate sites set up to promote third party products would be guilty of sticking ads everywhere. Just be careful though you don’t crowd out the top third of your own site with too many of your own offers.

A lot of seo pro’s have been unhappy with the extent to which Google are rolling out these changes lately. This one personally i am happy to see. It won’t affect the majority of webmasters who place a bit of intelligence into their seo marketing. Basics such as don’t over hype the sale always work.