Get the most from McKinsey.com:
“Product Listing Ads drive traffic and sales to your website or local store by showing online shoppers rich images and details of items you sell.”
Are you ready to start selling your products globally through Google Shopping?
Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are a kind of PPC ad that e-commerce merchants can purchase through Google Adwords to increase the online reach of their products. PLAs feature a high-quality product image and differ from AdWords in that they are tailored towards product categories over specific keywords. They’ll appear on the left hand side and at the top of Google search results and once visitors click on your Google shopping ad, customers will be redirected to your website page to browse further and (hopefully!) make a purchase.
The great part is, you only pay for your ad when Google successfully directs a customer to your online shop!
Deciding whether Google Shopping is the right platform for your products can be difficult. There are several variables that you need to consider before taking the plunge. The first thing to consider is whether you have enough products to warrant Google Shopping. If you have under 5 products, for example, you’ll find it difficult to get any visibility on Google.
The next thing to consider is how competitive your product category is. There is significant revenue to be generated on Google Shopping in categories like toys, automotive, tools and furniture, but you need to be careful of using highly competitive products that generally receive a lot of clicks in your PLA campaign. You’ll be up against some of the most popular products out there!
The next stumbling block is how much you have to spend on your Google Shopping campaign. I understand that advertising budgets vary wildly, but if you want to ensure that your ads show up on Google and that you make a worthwhile profit on Google Shopping, you’ll need to spend at least £250.
What’s more, if you are operating within tight margins, you’ll need to work out what sort of return you’ll get on your investment. This will vary hugely depending on your products and how competitive your market is, and will dictate whether PLAs through Google Shopping is right for your business.
Ultimately, Google Shopping will only work for you if your website is up to scratch. Not sure if yours is?
If you’re planning to sell your products to multiple countries, and are looking to use Product Listing Ads (PLAs) to boost sales, you should first configure your site so that it’s ready to sell on Google shopping.
Google Shopping requires that you list your products for sale in the currency of the country you are targeting. Not only must you list them in this currency, the customer should be able to checkout and pay for shipping in that currency.
For ease, I like to setup a feed per country/currency in Adwords, allowing me to easily set and adjust prices per country. The separate feed per country also allows for better control over what products are available and will make it easier to ensure the correct fields are included according to that country’s specifications. To make product and currency segmentation easier when controlling bids, I suggest adding a custom tag field to each product that will then allow you to filter easily by that currency.
Want to know more? Why not let me help you get product listing ads to work for your e-commerce website with Google Shopping? I am Google Shopping and Adwords certified and in a fairly unique position to help you get the most out of this potentially lucrative channel.
