A Beginner’s Guide to Google Shopping Ads
Shopping ads on Google accumulate more than 60% of paid clicks for the retailers. Since its inception, Shopping ads have been performing as one of the most sales-generating paid channels across different search engines. They offer amazing pay-per-click advertising opportunities for ecommerce businesses who want to run search engine marketing campaigns. If you are a new seller, you should make use of Google Shopping ads as they have a proven record of providing a positive return on your investment. Keep reading this article to learn what are Google Shopping ads and how they can benefit your ecommerce business.
What are Google Shopping ads?
Shopping ads also known as Product Listing Ads (PLAs) refer to the products shown at top of the Google search results. Previously these ads were in effect only in standard search results, with the growing popularity of Shopping ads, Google has expanded its reach to a great extent. Now, these ads appear on the Shopping tab, search partner websites, YouTube, iOS and Android apps, Google Display Network, and more. Online retailers have to pay CPC (Cost Per Click) fee when a visitor clicks on their ads. When a visitor clicks on the ad unit, the ad directs the prospective customer to the product page of the respective ecommerce site. This process eventually may lead to successful transactions.
Where do Shopping ads appear on the search results page? Most of the time, they appear just above the organic search results. These ads comprise relevant product information like price, brand name, product rating, and even shipping information. With the right Google Shopping growth strategies, you can reap the benefits of Shopping ads on Google and make a substantial profit from your online stores.
How can Google Shopping ads help your business?
Google shopping ads are a great way to attract more customers with low advertising costs. Retailers can set their desired campaign goals according to their budgets. They also can optimize these campaigns in a variety of ways. Shopping ads accompanied by Free Product Listings and Surface across Google render the best result for ecommerce businesses. Google Shopping ads can help your business grow in the following ways.
More prospective buyers
Google is the most used search engine all over the world. Google covers more than 91% of the global search market. So naturally, Google Shopping ads get more exposure than any other paid advertising channel. Only Amazon can give Google tough competition to become the number one online shopping destination for consumers across the globe.
High-quality leads
Google Shopping is entirely intent-based. It collects leads that have strong buying intent. People who come to your website through Google Shopping ads are mainly online shoppers who know what they’re looking for. So, the traffic generated through Google Shopping ads is qualified leads with a high possibility of conversions.
Positive ROI
If you run ads on Google Shopping after researching the needs and shopping behavior of the target audience, you’re likely to generate more sales and make significant profits from these ads. Properly managed ads will serve you with increased ROI. Moreover, free product listing opportunities like Surface across Google allow users to attract shoppers without paying for it.
Setting up Google Shopping ads for your online store
You can't start with Google Shopping ads right away. Setting up Google Shopping ads is an extensive process involving three other Google products such as Google Ads, Merchant Center, and Google Analytics. You need to set them up, configure, and finally run the ads on Google.
Google Ads: This is where retailers create and manage their ad campaigns. It collects important performance data for the users and integrates other tools to facilitate their advertising efforts for better results.
Merchant Center: All the products are stored here in the merchant center. The product feed is generated through this center and you can enable programs like Surface across Google and Shopping ads.
Google Analytics: This is a great tool to keep track of your advertising campaigns. Google offers this free tool and helps users track traffic, visitors, and conversions in real-time. You should analyze the data provided by analytics to come up with a better advertising strategy to make more profits.
N.B. Don't forget to use the same Google account to operate all these three services.
Setting up Google Analytics
- Install your unique tracking code provided by Google Analytics
- Enable your ecommerce settings
- Make use of data collection and data retention features
- Link the Google Ads account to the analytics too
Setting up Google Ads
- Create your Google Ads account
- Enable the conversion tracking
Setting up Google Merchant Center
- Create your Merchant Center account
- Verify the URL of your website
- Manage the shipping settings
- If you are in the USA, set taxes
- Link your all three accounts to manage the ad campaigns
Optimizing the product feed for Google Shopping ads
Product feed refers to a catalog of all your products, associated with relevant product data such as titles, descriptions, prices, images, and other pieces of information. Google requires you to provide this necessary information and submit them to check for eligibility. You need to include the following things in your product feed to optimize it for Google.
Product ID
Each product must have a unique product identification number to help Google keep track of your product across multiple channels such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Merchant Center.
Product title
Product titles are one of the key elements of product information that facilitate Google search results. When someone searches for a product using search queries that match with your titles, these titles help your product appear in the search results.
Product description
Descriptions comprising the key features and specialty of products induce buyers to make a buying decision. Keep your product feed updated with precise product information devoid of filler content and generic terms.
Product photos
Product photos are a crucial part of Google Shopping ads. Your product feed must contain relevant and high-quality product photos that fulfill the requirements of Google. Besides, beautiful product photos leave a good impression on visitors’ minds.
Availability and product condition
Your customers must know if the product they want to buy is in stock right now. You should clarify if a certain product is sold on a pre-order basis. You should also let them know what’s the condition (used, refurbished, or new) of your product.
Best Google Shopping ad strategies
Without a realistic strategy, it’s quite tough for a person to get a good return on their investment from Google Shopping ads. Before implementing such ads, you must work on creating a set of effective strategies that are likely to help you make significant profits. The following steps will guide you through the best practices of Google Shopping ads.
Product title optimization
A well-optimized product title has more chances to appear in the search results than a typical product title. You need to adopt the right structure in your title writing to outperform your other counterparts. Usually, a good title consists of the brand name, keywords, product attributes, and product name. You should generate a catchy title comprising all this information.
Keywords integration
Relevant keywords help your product appear in search engines for the right search queries. On the contrary, negative keywords harm the ranking of your products in search results. So, be aware of the negative keywords and choose keywords that align with your product type, target audience, and ad campaigns.
Remarketing and retargeting
RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) enables users to target visitors who have visited your site before, or made a purchase previously, or interacted with your business in one or another way. Remarketing and retargeting is effective way to facilitate Google Shopping ads and can increase the conversion rates significantly.
Merchant promotions
Merchant promotions aka special offers make a big impact in terms of attracting online visitors. You can enhance your chance of getting higher click-through rates and conversion rates by flaunting merchant promotions through your Google Shopping ads. Even you can offer discounts, coupons, and other incentives to attract prospective customers.
If you follow the above steps while running your Google Shopping ads, you’re likely to drive visitors with buying intent to your ecommerce website. All your effort will go in vain if your website isn't good enough to provide these visitors with a pleasant shopping experience.
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