Since I haven’t been planning to write this for a decade, I had to Search around Google Images for a while to find screenshots taken over the last 13 years to demonstrate the evolution of the way Google has presented pay-per-click ads to users.

It turns out that most historical screenshots of Google results are the kind taken by SEO and PPC providers for the purposes of overlaying a not-so-subtle arrow and some earth-shattering marketing copy like “YOU COULD BE HERE,” so please excuse any such additions in the images below.

Please note: As some of our more AdWords knowledgable readers will no doubt point out to me, I’ve taken a bit of liberty with the exact dates I’ve given some of Google’s visual changes. They often test new developments for months or years prior to rolling them out globally, so it’s difficult to always pin an exact date on when a change was unveiled.

1999 – Ad Free!

Although the screenshot below contains no ads, I’ve included it to demonstrate a time before Google accepted payment for placement in search results.

1999: AdWords isn’t invented yet!

2000 – Launch

When AdWords was first launched, the ads featured an “Interest Bar” which was basically a representation of that ad’s click-through rate. The upper ad area spanned the entire page width with a light pink background colour, while the side ad area had a light blue box with each ad being contained in a seperate box.

Initially, the entire box containing these new Sponsored Links was clickable, so you didn’t have to aim too well.

2000: “Sponsored Links” make their first appearance in Google search results.

2001 – Testing

The early years of AdWords were very volatile. Google trialled hundreds of variations of how to display the ads to the user. The size, shape, position and colour of these new “Sponsored Links” were seemingly different each time you searched.

Google split-tested ad background colours including blue, green, yellow, gray and pink to find the highest click-through rate.

2002 – More Testing

The top ad-section featuring two different background colours.

Google AdWords appearing in distinct boxes, in contrast to the way the ads have been displayed for the last few years.

Light purple top section including a eBay ad with 46-character headline. I don’t know if this was policy at the time or an exception made for eBay. The current limitation is 35 characters, although Description Line #1 is sometimes added to the blue link of horizontal ads. I’m aware that the search query says “penis puppets.”

2003 – Refinement

No top section, light-gray side section.

Blue and green Sponsored Links in the top section

Yellow background for the top section, ad headline is definitely longer than 35 characters.

Note that prior to the launch of Google Maps, they used to carry a recommendations to visit either Yahoo Maps! or MapQuest.

2004 – Somewhat stable

The dark-blue navigation bar has disappeared and the tabs have relocated to above the search box. In a change likely designed to make the ads seem more like normal search results, the side Sponsored Links are no longer contained within a coloured box.

No more coloured box.

2005

The top-section of Sponsored Links is now restricted to only spanning the left column instead of the entire page-width.

Note the first appearances of a location line (Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL) in the right section.

2006

2007

Descrption lines were not yet limited to 35 characters.

Somewhat festive divider for the right section, featured during the 2007 holiday season.

2008

With significant testing throughout 2007, 2008 saw the first appearances of the infamous 10-Pack of local business listings thrusting itself onto the main search results pages.

Google testing displaying the URL above the description lines in the side section. They don’t widely implement this change until 2012.

2009

Note the appearance of integration with Google Checkout and Google Products

2010

Big changes in 2010 included the appearance of the left-side menu and the new Google Instant to pre-empt a users search intent. Also notable was the decision, towards the end of 2010, to change the description of the advertisements from “Sponsored links” to simply “Ads.” If you built your business on that phrase, 2010 was the year you started to look outdated.

Note the return to the pinkish-purple background colour for the top section.

Note the inclusion of a link to the Google Places page.

2011 – New Interface

In 2011, Google unveiled a completely new look and feel for the search results. For localised searches, this means that the right-side Ads were pushed quite far down to accomodate a Google Map.

Note the stacks of site-links in the ad for 1800 Dentist.

2012

2012 sees the Google results return to their simplistic roots, with many of the extra features more frequently hidden from view

The Google Map has gotten shorter and wider, seemingly to bring the ads back up onto the page. Display URLs are now above the description text.

Note the horizontal site-links in the ad for Advia.com.au

Conclusion

“…we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers.” – Larry Page & Sergey Brin – quote taken from The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.

The evolution of Google’s paid-inclusion program demonstrates an on-going effort by Google to strike the almost impossible balance between the user, who is seeking the most relevant search results, and the advertiser, who is seeking a targeted and effective advertising platform.

It’s likely that this struggle to maintain the optimal balance will continue to dictate Google’s design and interface improvements for the next decade.