Google fixing bug that shows 5 ads on top of SERPs

An issue is causing too many ads to show at the top of Google’s search results.

The issue. The search engine is showing five sponsored posts at the top of SERPs, when there should only be four, for some queries. For example:

SERPs error. Marketers raised the ads display issue on X (the platform previously known as Twitter), noting that Google has historically said that it only displays four ads at the top of search results pages.

Is Google showing five ads now? No.

Google’s policy hasn’t changed. Something is wrong on Google’s end, according to Ginny Marvin, ads product liaison at Google.

Why we care. We wondered whether Google had increased the number of ads at the top of SERPs, from four to five, on purpose. But now we know that isn’t the case. Rather, it is just the latest stumble for the Google Ads platform.

What has Google said? Marvin said the error is being addressed, via X:

• “Thanks for bringing it to my attention. This is is not working as intended and we’re working to address it.”

Postscript. It turns out, this wasn’t a bug on Google’s end but Chrome’s. Upon turning off Chrome extensions, the issue resolved.