Google is now testing four AdWords ads above the organic search results.  I started getting reports recently about Google showing 4 ads earlier this week, and was able to trigger it.

Here is an example for a search I did:

Here is another example:

I was only able to trigger four ads above the organic results when using Google India at Google.co.in.   I tested multiple other country-specific Google search results but was unable to trigger the four ads for any other country.

This is quite big news that Google is testing four ads above the fold, although for most desktop users, organic results are still above the fold unless they are using a fairly small monitor.  It also is similar to Yahoo, with their regular four ads above the fold, something that has been viewed fairly negatively by Yahoo users.

It does seem a limited test at this time.  It is only showing up on Google India and not all searches trigger the four ads above the fold, even when there are multiple ads to display.  In fact, when I checked with another browser, I was no longer able to trigger four results above the organic results.

However, if this ends up being released across all of Google’s search domains, it could be a game changer.  The organic top spot would be pushed down one more spot, for those who are strictly getting organic traffic.  But for AdWords advertisers, it does open up another premium ad position in the crucial above-the-fold area.  So I suspect AdWords advertisers will be pretty happy with this test.

Update: We have now confirmed they are also testing 4 AdWords ads above the search results in both the US & Germany too.

Update from Google:

Google confirms that this is part of their experimentation with how they display ads within the search results.  They are displaying 4 ads for some desktop search queries.  It isn’t a permanent change and Google is only testing this for a small number of search queries.

H/T Ross Kaplan-Winn, who spotted “Adposition=1t4” via analytics with ValueTrack, and contacted me about it.