[Nextgrid]

It's debatable whether Google Ads affect Google search ranking (it's impossible to prove either way considering how many factors affect ranking), but regardless of whether they currently influence rankings, there might be reluctance to change that due to Google's business model.

Google's job as a search engine is to provide relevant and quality content. Ads are spam and noise, so if Google does want to provide quality content they should be penalizing ads just like they would penalize keyword spam and similar unpleasant SEO tactics. Given their business model however it is not in their best interests to do so, so it's very unlikely that Google will do it.

Another company that does not make their money on advertising has a better chance of doing this.

[graeme]

Ads do get penalized for being a bad fit: they get a lower quality score and cost more.

Meanwhile, ads are distinct from search. The #1 result refers to the first result past the ads.

[Nextgrid]

> Ads do get penalized for being a bad fit: they get a lower quality score and cost more.

My point is that as a user, ads, regardless of how "good" they are, are not what I am looking for when I click on a search result (I am talking about website ads and not ads on the results page itself) and thus a search engine that downranks pages with ads in favor of those without them would be beneficial for me.

It would be against Google's interest to implement that (as they'd also be fighting against their own ad network) but a different company not involved in the advertising business (and making high enough margins on other products) has a higher chance of delivering this successfully.