le fixes bug that displays 5 ads at the top of SERPs

A problem is causing Google to display too many ads at the top.

This is the problem. For some queries, there are five sponsored posts on top of the SERPs when only four should be displayed. As an example:

Search Engine Results Page Error. Marketers have raised the issue of ads being displayed on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. They noted that Google has historically stated that it only displays 4 ads at the top.

Google is showing five ads at the moment? No.

Google’s policy is unchanged. Ginny Martin, Ad Product Liaison at Google, says that something is wrong with Google.

Why we care. We were curious as to whether Google intentionally increased the number ads on the SERPs from four up to five. Now we know this is not the case. It’s just another stumble for Google Ads.

What has Google said about this? Marvin stated that the error was being addressed via X.

• Thank you for bringing this to my attention. We are working to fix this.

The Google bug fixes that displays 5 ads at the top of SERPs first appeared on Search Engine Land.