The holiday season is a great time for online retailers. Google Shopping ads are a secret weapon of sophisticated ecommerce websites. Google shopping ads drive targeted traffic to your ecommerce website who are ready to buy. Learn what Google Shopping ads can do for your business in this article.
What are Google Shopping Ads
Google shopping ads are available through Google Adwords and basically, they serve up product ads with photos and pricing for relevant Google searches. Here is how some Google Shopping ads look for a campaign I just set up:
Notice how the product ad even beats out the manufacturer! Right at the top of the page. Plus, it’s very inexpensive as compared to a traditional keyword search ad. A keyword like this you may pay a dollar a click, whereas with shopping ads, they are pennies a click. Plus, you get all that product exposure for free if it’s not clicked upon.
Because the ads contain product images and pricing, you can really get targeted clicks of buyers right to your site. Plus, when they click on the ad they go directly to your product page!
Where Your Ads Appear
Here’s where you might see your Shopping ads across the web:
- Google Shopping (in select countries)
- Google Search, next to search results and separate from text ads
- Google Search Partner websites, including YouTube and Image Search in some countries (if your campaign is set to include search partners)
Note: Your Shopping ads can appear at the same time as text ads. This means that shoppers can find the best match before clicking through to make a purchase, which might help you close the sale.
Benefits of Google Shopping Ads
- Typically lower cost per click than keyword search advertising
- Can appear on a variety of places across the web
- Right at the top of Google Search
- Traffic is highly targeted
- More low cost traffic (more traffic is always better for retail)
- Less competition (because it’s pretty sophisticated to set up)
How Do You Set Up Product Ads?
Google Shopping Ads are a little complicated to set up. Unless you are a web developer, or a sophisticated Pay Per Click guru, they are quite complicated to set up.
First, you have to make sure all your products have the correct information attached to them to be able to create a compliant Google Product Feed. This can be a time consuming task if you have a large site and variable products.
Secondly, your website either has to generate a compliant product feed for Google to download, or you have to manually prepare a spreadsheet of all your products and upload them to Google Merchant Center. I prefer the feed!
Finally, you have to set up a shopping campaign in your Google Adwords account to serve up the Google Shopping Ads.
Sound like a lot of work! It is, but not to worry, iGo Sales and Marketing can set up your product feed and product display ads on Google Shopping in no time. In many cases, you’ll be the only competitor there! Because it’s very sophisticated to set up, many of your competitors won’t be there, giving you a distinct advantage.
Contact us today for a free estimate!
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