Yesterday we spotted a Google AdWords test running in Google India where they were placing four AdWords ads at the top of the search results.  We have also confirmed that this is also being tested on a limited basis in both the US and Germany too.

For those who haven’t seen it in action, here is what it looks like:

Dr. Pete Meyers checked Mozcast data from last night’s run and discovered multiple search queries that showed 4 ads above the Google search results instead of the maximum three.  He said they showed on about 1% of the keywords they tracked, which would bring it in line with Google’s 1% tests they run in the search results.

SEO Südwest also spotted them in the search results too, running in Germany.  Here is an example:

This one also appears to be a limited test, as I couldn’t trigger it.

This is really big for all advertisers looking to maximize their exposure in the search results.  But not so good for those with great organic rankings, since it does push those results down further.

There also doesn’t seem to be any limit on the ad extensions being shown, which could have been a possibility in order to reduce the screen real estate of the AdWords ads.  After all, it could have been an option to show more ads in the usual 3-ad space in the search results if they didn’t always show things like site links or reviews.  But this could have a negative impact on the AdWords ads, since it is often things like review starts or site links that cause a searcher to click on an ad over another result.

We should have some screen shots this weekend from Mozcast as well, although I am also trying to trigger it on both US and Canada.