We've seen it numerous times, where a bug leads Google to either show too many Google Ads in the search results or the organic listings do not load and Google only shows ads. It is rare, but we see it every now and then. Google recently confirmed a bug where they showed too many ads in the mobile results.
Google said on Twitter "Thanks for catching this! We didn't intend to show these extra ads. This was a bug impacting a very small number of queries and it has already been fixed."
Here is a video of the bug:
Google testing new Ads setup on mobile search. 11 ads with two organic listing then 7 organic listings and finally 3 further ads #Google #SEO #GoogleAds #PPC #GoogleUpdate #SERP pic.twitter.com/NInKxKm4Hd
— Fibre (@Fibre_Marketing) January 25, 2019
Here is Google's response:
Thanks for catching this! We didn't intend to show these extra ads. This was a bug impacting a very small number of queries and it has already been fixed.
— Google Ads (@GoogleAds) January 29, 2019
Honestly, I find it funny how many people felt this was real and not a bug. And then took the opportunity to jump on Google for showing so many ads. Even from people who I know built software and had their own bugs - we all have bugs we deal with. Clearly this wasn't intended. Showing so many ads is a poor user experience.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
