The eCommerce industry is growing at an accelerated pace driven by the impact of the recent pandemic. Now, with holiday seasons nearing, the industry is expected to get busier than ever
Most retailers have already allocated a significant amount of their marketing budget towards Google Shopping Ads. For companies who are not familiar with Shopping Ad yet, it is time to explore this option as a way to stay ahead of the rising competition and take advantage of the recent growth in the industry.
What are Google Shopping Ads?
Google Shopping Ads (sometimes referred to as PLAs or Product Listing Ad) is one of the most effective marketing strategies for eCommerce businesses. Simply put, they are product-based ads which often appear at the very top of the search result (above organic results). These ads usually include a product’s image, it’s pricing and the brand's name. Additional information such as ratings, reviews, shipping information and promotions can also be added.
Besides the Google search result, Shopping Ads appear across the web in the shopping tab on Google Search, Google Search partner websites, and Google Display networks such as Gmail, YouTube, and Google Discover.
How does it work?
To create a Google Shopping Ad, you will need a Merchant Centre account. This is where you will create a shopping/product feed.
Creating a product feed is quite simple; you will need to fill out and submit a spreadsheet provided by Google. This spreadsheet will ask for various information about your products, including product title, description, price, image links, availability and brands.
Providing a clear and detailed product feed is essential as it will make the ads more relevant. Including information such as promotions, shipping services and ratings is highly recommended as they will make a significant impact on how these ads perform.
Next, your Merchant Centre will have to be linked with Google Ad account. Your Google Ads account is where you can build and manage your shopping ad campaigns. You will also need to set up a bidding strategy and daily campaign budget here. With Google Ads, you will also be able to access essential insights about ad performance and make relevant optimisation decisions.
Unlike text ads, shopping ads do not require a set of keywords. Instead, Google looks at your existing product data in the Merchant Centre account and runs the ad when someone performs a relevant search query. This reinforces the fact that you need to have a healthy, optimised product feed.
There are numerous ways to optimise your feed. Some of the most important ways include:
- Clearly and accurately defining products
- Adding relevant keywords and search terms to your product titles and descriptions and
- Using high-quality and relevant product images
Benefits of Google Shopping Ads
When used correctly, shopping ads can be one of the most influential and cost-effective marketing tools for eCommerce businesses. Google has recently launched free listings in Google Shopping – meaning you have the opportunity to rank organically in the shopping feed. Using this alongside a paid strategy of shopping ads will help eCommerce businesses thrive.
Find out more about Google’s Free Shopping listing in this article.
Qualified Leads
Google Shopping campaigns allows eCommerce businesses to gain better quality leads. Shopping on Google is usually intent-based. By the time customers clicks on the ad, they already have a good understanding of the items they are looking to buy, placing them further down the sales funnel. In other words, ads are displayed to users who already have an interest in the product. And when they click on these ads, they are more likely to make a purchase.
Easy to manage
Relative to text ads, shopping ads are much easier to manage. Text ads look to target and bid on a set of keywords. Shopping ads are much more straightforward. Instead of bidding on keywords, google automatically run ads based on user’s search terms and matches them with product data feed on your Google Merchant Centre account.
Broader Reach
Google shopping ads can effectively reach a broader range of potential consumers across international markets. Additionally, shopping ads allows more than one of your products to appear in a single query.
Better Returns on Investment
In contrast to the text ads, shopping ads are highly targeted towards qualified leads. It attracts higher click through rates and requires less cost per clicks. Consequently, retailers are likely to get higher returns on investment.
Stand out among competitors
Using high-quality images, good descriptions, adding additional information about promotions and price cuts will make your product stand out among all other products.
Automatic Inventory updates
When changes are made to the product information on your eCommerce site, Google will automatically update this so that ads do not show any misleading information.
Reporting
With Google ads, you can generate reports based on different metrics to assess your ad’s performance. With these, you can employ accurate optimisation decisions. Additionally, features such as auction insight reports and price benchmarks can be used to see how other merchants are pricing similar products. This way, you can adjust your biddings strategically.
Google Shopping Ads can be highly beneficial for eCommerce businesses that are looking to attract high-quality leads and improve visibility.
Using these ads will allow your products to be placed in front of searchers who have high buying intent. Consequently, this will help you generate sales and expand your eCommerce businesses.
Grow with Google Ads by learning the CTR to beat for your industry.
Are you looking to expand your eCommerce business with Google Shopping Ads? Our PPC experts at ExtraDigital have extensive experience with Google Merchant Centre and Google Ads. Fill out the contact form below, and we will be in contact soon.
