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Reportedly, Google is testing a system that removes the top sponsored results, moving them to the side panel, if a user consistently doesn't click on the ads.

The issue was brought up in a WebMasterWorld forum thread, with mixed emotions from the crowd.

The running explanation is that the user is better served, if they never click on the blue ads at the top, if the ads are moved out of the way.

One forum member quotes a Google account representative saying the move "lessens the chance of a poor prospect clicking on an ad." Clearing the cookies, however, returns the settings back to normal.

Some speculate it helps control for ad blindness.

"If I understand this correctly, if [Google] recognizes a particular Surfer as having this behavior, they will vary the displayed Ads to try to create some variety in the Surfer's behavior - just showing another Ad that the Surfer is equally blind to will not accomplish this," imparts user Pengi.

Still, says user McMohan, "it is quite assumptive to generalize a user who never click an ad and if he/she clicks, then that is a 'poor prospect.'" Sometimes, McMohan points out, an advertisement is clicked just because the organic results weren't what the searcher was looking for.

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