Google Shopping – what’s that?

The Google Shopping platform, and more specifically the Product Listing Ads (PLA) service, i.e. product ads that began to appear on the right of the search results. The photo, store name and price were displayed, and after clicking the selected ad the user was redirected to the product page. This service could be compared to a price comparison site, which was now available in Google search. Currently, the user has access to the entire Google Shopping tab, and there are definitely more products in the ads. You can filter or sort them by price.

A condition of implementing product advertising is conducting a shopping campaign in Google Ads. The promotion is targeted based on the attributes from the data file in the Merchant Center, and the photos are added to the advertisement from the prepared database. Product advertising is paid on a CPC (Cost Per Click) basis, i.e. when the user clicks on it.

Product advertising – for whom?

This type of advertising is designed for online stores from almost every industry. Thanks to it, it is possible to promote not only physical but also intangible products, such as software. It is worth remembering that, as in the case of other Google Ads campaigns, advertising of alcohol or medicines is prohibited here. A full list of prohibited content can be found on the Google support website.

Shopping campaign benefits

A properly configured shopping campaign is currently one of the most effective methods of generating sales for online stores. Thanks to the graphic form, it stands out from the background of text ads and, as a result, is attractive to Internet users. Viewing a photo and product prices from the search engine level significantly saves time searching the range in stores – the advertisement is always up-to-date, so it displays only available products.

The Google Shopping campaign allows reaching users who are already at the final stage of the purchasing process, because by entering a specific product name in the search engine they count on finding places where they will be able to buy it. The advertisement directs them directly to the product card, which contains the details of the offer and from which they can complete the purchase.

Integration with Google Merchant Center allows you to launch dynamic remarketing, which by displaying product data on banners reminds users of products that have recently been viewed in the advertiser’s store.

Google Shopping – Not For Everyone?

The Google Shopping campaign convinces online store owners for many reasons. It seems particularly attractive mainly because it allows you to present the product in the photo from the search engine. The statistics of our campaigns also show that the results achieved by these campaigns, as well as the confidence of online stores in this advertisement, are increasing.

However, before you decide to launch your Google Shopping campaign, there are a few important things to consider.

The first important issue is price competition. If you are not the only distributor of the product, check whether the price you offer is attractive compared to other online stores, and if it is higher, you can explain it somehow. However, the price is displayed right next to the product in the Google Shopping advertisement and gives you the opportunity to compare, without having to look at the pages of individual stores. If the customer enters the specific product name they are looking for in the search engine, naturally, the offer with the lower price will arouse the most interest.

The second important thing is the inability to match your audience to your ad using keywords. In the case of a shopping campaign, Google decides when and for which Internet queries the ad will be displayed. Before launching the campaign, it is necessary to send a file with information about products – their names, prices, individual parameters, etc. Based on this information, Google selects from among our products and products of other stores belonging to the same category the one that will be advertised. Therefore, the Advertiser has no influence on which queries of Internet users his product will be displayed (only after it is displayed in response to a query entered in the search engine is able to see it), as well as in the environment of which products it will be displayed.

And the last important issue is the problem of displaying products from different shelves side by side. If the customer enters the search query: leather men’s shoes, the results may include both designer shoes from the designer and those from a regular chain store. The visible at first glance difference will of course be the price, which in product ads has the most significant impact on customers’ purchasing decisions. Therefore, if you offer unique products, you must be aware that in the case of Google Shopping campaigns, their value may not be noticed and they will be compared with mass products.

Considering the above, you certainly understand how IMPORTANT ISSUE is the optimization and proper management of the product file from which Google derives information about products. You should not be afraid of all this – a properly built product file, combined with a budget sensible for a given campaign, will succeed.

Google Shopping – summary

A properly created and constantly optimized product advertisement will bring satisfying results to both small stores and large stores with an extensive range. Finally, the Paraphrase-Online.com team would like to mention a slightly different but related issue. If you use product advertising, your products are displayed via CSS – i.e. price comparison websites. Not so long ago, the only comparison website that had access to the Google advertising environment was the Google comparison site.