Another quiet Google change happened on Friday, April 4th. The addition of previous and next arrows on all Google Adsense ads as well as some testing of ads shown in 2 x 2 boxes.

Quick Online Tips has the run down on the 2×2 testing, but we’re going to look a little bit into the next/previous scroll arrows addition to the AdSense ads.

Here’s what Katie Mandel of Google says over at their AdSense Blog:

After months of testing, we’ve just updated our text ad format to include ‘next’ and ‘previous’ arrow buttons for cost-per-click (CPC) ads. When a user clicks on the ‘next’ button, an entirely new group of ads will appear in the ad unit, giving your users greater control over the ads they see and click.

The arrows look like this in a vertical format:

and like this in the horizontal format:

The blog post goes on to say that clicking the arrows won’t generate earnings but are intended to help users find more relevant ads.

From a publisher’s standpoint, more than one person in the blogosphere has wondered if it wouldn’t have been nice to be given the option of turning this feature on or off. Though giving the visitor the chance to scroll through more than just the first set of ads might actually turn out to be an advantage to publisher earnings.

From a PPC advertising standpoint users will have a better chance to interact with the ads, and also to potentially see an advertiser’s ad they might not have otherwise seen, particularly if that ad has a lower bid.

You have to wonder, though, if anyone will really click on these arrows. Were Google’s test results, supporting the launch of this feature, actual users who were willing to engage with the ads in order to find one that was most relevant? It seems difficult to believe that the majority of folks clicking those arrows were average Joe’s as opposed to advertisers, publishers, and savvy users who noticed the new feature and clicked out of curiosity.

President of Web Ad.vantage, Hollis Thomases, had this to say on the AdSense scroll arrows:

I don’t know if a whole lot of viewers will notice (or click) the arrows, but savvy ones who are accustomed to AdSense ads might have a greater likelihood of clicking. Also, I think ad format matters — the arrows are more visible in the vertical ad vs. horizontal ad, which might lead to greater propensity to click the arrows. I wonder if Google is going to develop any reporting for AdSense advertisers to show them this?

And the questions our search marketing team immediately had for Google was concerning what happened to those AdSense advertisers who were running CPM campaigns and how the ability to scroll through pages would affect impressions?

Our Google rep. confirmed that the scroll arrows only appear when a CPC campaign has won the ad block, and that they are entirely removed in CPM campaign wins.

All in all, the new AdSense scroll arrows are not earth-shaking news from the Google front. But since it was a minor blip on the search engine marketing radar last Friday, and since you might be seeing them floating around or wondering how it will affect your own Pay Per Click Campaign, we’re hoping this helps answer your questions.