One popular campaign type for e-commerce brands is Google Shopping ads. They appear right at the top of the SERP, even above text ads and provide users with information-rich listings. What’s also great about shopping ads is the visual element it adds so a user only clicks on what they like - saving you on ad spend. It consolidates the most fitting product listings together so it’s all about competition. See how you can be the best and master Google Shopping.
How does Google Shopping work?
The fundamentals of running shopping ads relies on two tools: Google Merchant Centre and of course Google Ads. You need a fully set up account in both. Integrate your products into the Merchant Centre and let Google asses your shopping quality score.
What is a shopping quality score?
This part is completely in Google's technological hands. Once you have uploaded your product data with all relevant product information you receive a quality score. Similar to search ads, a high quality score will improve the likelihood of ranking better and at a lower CPC because of the quality of your product, reviews, price competitiveness etc. Find out more about how to measure performance metrics effectively.
Google then takes your product data and automatically creates an ad card with all of this information consolidated together, making it a straightforward process as you don’t have to design any ads yourself of employ a third party to do this at a high standard for you.
Why shopping ads?
Unlike text ads, shopping ads have the advantage of showing rather than telling which results in high CTRs due to the product-specific nature of the ad. It’s unlikely a user will click an ad and then be deterred because your product is not what they are looking for. This is because all the information that they need is right in front of them before they even click!
Where do they show in Google?
Shopping ads show in a variety of different places across Google. Most of the time, they are shown as carousel ads which are found right at the top of a SERP. Images are shown on small cards alongside the product title, price, brand and often a rating. This is why price competitiveness is so important in shopping ads because you are competing right next to another advertiser for the exact same product.
They can also show down the sidebar in SERP’s, under the image tab in Google, on partner networks and of course under the shopping tab. We think carousel ads are the most profitable placement as it doesn't require that extra bit of digging from the user, it’s simply right in front of them to browse!
Latest developments to Google Shopping
This month, Google announced some major developments as part of the Google Marketing Live 2024. One major takeaway to note is making shopping ads more engaging with creativity and the help of AI. Soon, advertisers will be able to enhance ads with immersive visuals, including 3D-generated spinning ads and virtual try-ons.
Key takeaways
To succeed in retail, you need to understand your products and your customers. The action of shopping will never change, but customer behaviour will. You need to consistently update products, stay up to data with trends and optimise your listings all with information available to you in Google Merchant Centre.
At mira, we ensure that we use all the tools at our disposal to maximise your chances of shopping ad success! We’ve scaled many e-commerce brands' conversion value with specific targeting, a collaborative strategy and detailed reporting. You could be next…contact us for your free consultation today.