It has been a while since I clicked on Google search Ad. The ads that appear on the top of the page of your search results, have been largely ignored except by 3.69% of searchers.

Given than 81% of all Google searches feature ads, this is a small number overall.

But today I happened to click on the top ad of a search.

It no longer takes me to the page.

Instead I got this.

A lead generation form filled with my name, number and email.

My guess is one of 3 things is happening:

1. Google is being forced to show “value” to advertisers, since many people click on a page, then “bounce” off, and advertisers dont like that
2. Google is preparing for Bard / ChatGPT like experience when you will no longer go to a page to view the data but you will just get the results. Insiders call this “zero click”
3. Advertisers are no longer ready to pay for “click through”, instead they want “signups”.

Big change but has anyone else seen this before?