SEO News: No, you're not going crazy.

Google has ramped up their placement of ads appearing mixed in with organic results big time.

This has been happening since June of 2023, with an official confirmation from Google roughly a year later – but a big shift started more recently in mid December of 2024.

For example, Ikea went from having 693 queries with 'middle ads' appearing in the top 10 in Nov 2024 (according to Semrush) to then having 3,734 in Dec 2024... that's quite a jump.

So if you’re noticing an increase in ads being mixed in with organic listings, you’re not alone. It’s happening at scale and ads are show this way purposefully from Google

Thank you for share is new information for me at least.

SEO 2010: You have to rank in the top 10 to get traffic
SEO 2030: You have to rank #1-2 along with 8-9 sponsored pages to get organic traffic

Google has intentionally increased ad placement within organic search results, especially since December 2024, making ads more prominent alongside organic listings.

Google plans to increase its revenue in 2025