Google unleashes Page Layout Algorithm Improvement upon the SERPs

[Michael Martinez]

You can read Matt Cutts' full explanation here.

Basically, if you have SOME ads above the fold, you're probably okay.

If you have a LOT of ads above the fold, you may lose your Google rankings.

If you *ARE* in the "less than 1%" of queries affected by this algorithmic change, all you have to do is change your site design and let Googlebot recrawl your site. Then you wait a few weeks and VOILA! you should be back in business.

He says....

[Strider1973]

I guess this one here would be considered as a bad example of the 1%?

[Michael Martinez]

Google doesn't index its own search results.

BTW -- some people are suggesting that the Google Page Layout Algorithm Improvement is the latest Panda iteration. I'm not so sure of that but it sounds plausible in one context, where an SEO named Dave Harry said he was given a heads up that "a new Panda rollout would occur today (i.e., Jan. 19, 2012)".

In any event, it shares some of the Panda algorithm's behavior. You have to wait for Google to recrawl your site and re-evaluate your pages. The way Matt explains all that in his post above, it strikes me as an attempt by Google to soften the language around their Panda-like algorithms while at the same time giving people a little more information about what to expect.

[Newjabber]

I had a site go from around 50ish to 1st yesterday, so looks like some kinda changes happened.