AdGooroo reports a significant increase in ads displayed per keyword on Google. In Q4, Google is serving 3.82 ads per keyword, which is about 50% more than it served during Q3. During the month of November, Google served an average of 4.38 ads per keyword, a 75% increase over its Q3 average.
The alleyinsider quotes that one probable reason for this dramatic increase in ads serves/keyword is that Google experimented with serving fewer ads against its search results during the first and second quarters of 2008, which didnt go well.
[...] by Google, like curbs on the otherwise lavish holiday parties and efforts to boost revenue by an increase in the number of ads shown on the search results page. Now it seem Google is cutting out on gifts to it’s top performing [...]