Google Shopping Ads: How to Get Started in 2022? Show
If you are a retailer and you are currently not advertising in Google Ads, You are doing something very wrong. Google Shopping ads now account for more than 75% of ad spend in search, and I can only think of it growing in the years to come. One of the most significant advantages of Shopping ads is the intent of the user. He/She saw the product, its price and clicked on an ad. This user is much more likely to convert than anyone from another marketing channel. From a marketing point of view, Google Shopping ads are a unique campaign in the search network. Like a regular search campaign, the ads are shown after a user searches in Google. But unlike a search campaign, you do not create an ad or a keyword. This is strange for most advertisers who grew up with keywords. Google Shopping Ads - Key ComponentsGoogle Shopping Ads: Product TitleGoogle allows 150 characters in the product title. The product title should accurately describe your product and must match the content on your landing page. You can always have a product title slightly different from the title on your landing page, but they should both describe the same product. Product ImageAn ideal product image in google shopping ads should be attractive and descriptive of the product on offer. Although Google states a minimum resolution of 100x100 pixels for images (250x250 for apparel), it is prudent to submit a higher resolution in the feed. Watermarks, promotional texts, or borders are not allowed and will result in product disapproval. Product DescriptionAlong with product title, product description plays the most crucial role in helping Google decide when to show ads. Your product description can be 5000 words long at max. Use this space to include potential keywords where you want to display ads. Product PriceTwo of the biggest mistake advertisers can make is not updating product price & not thinking about the competition while deciding the price. You can fix the first mistake by having Google shopping feed software that continuously updates the Merchant Center. The second one needs constant optimization while continually looking at your competitors. Seller NameYou cannot optimize much here. Your seller name is defined when you create your Merchant Center. Don't overthink about Seller Name optimization. You should instead spend time fixing titles and descriptions. Product ConditionNot many people know that you can sell used and refurbished goods in Google Shopping ads. Product status or condition is present in the feed. The three available conditions are
Product RatingsThe visual experience of seeing a highly rated product is significant. Product ratings increase your expected CTR significantly because of this. If you are selling a product that is being sold by multiple other merchants, your ad will have a product rating averaged out across sellers. E.g., you are selling an iPhone X, and the product has a 4.9 rating in your store. Another seller also sells the same product and has a rating of 4.7. The final product rating shown in your ad will be an averaged rating from both stores. Product ratings are not available by default. You first have to get approval from Google. You can signup for the program here. There are three ways of sharing reviews with Google. 1. Uploading feed via Google Merchant CenterIf Google approves you for product ratings, you can upload the reviews feed in your merchant center. you can follow this article for more details. 2. Using a reviews aggregatorThere are a bunch of Google-approved product rating aggregators. If you are already working with them, ask them to submit your reviews to Google. 3. Google Customer ReviewsGoogle customer reviews are in my opinion, the easiest way to do product ratings. The idea is straightforward. You have to implement a javascript code on your checkout page. The javascript code will enable Google to contact your customers and collect feedback from them. Google can then use this data to show product ratings in your ads. Note: this Google customer reviews app is not live as of November 2021. so use the top 2 methods to add your product ratings to google shopping ads. Google shopping ads - Merchant PromotionsIt is alarming how so few advertisers use Merchant promotions. Merchant promotions increase the click-through rate significantly for your ads. Most of the advertisers already have some promotions running in their stores at any given time. Failing to advertise these offers in my mind is a crime.
You cannot, however, have coupons or discounts only for some people. E.g., you cannot have discounts just for first-time users, repeat customers, women or men, etc. Seller ratingsSeller ratings are a score out of 100 given to sellers. Please note that seller ratings are provided for your website or domain whereas product ratings are for a product. The easiest way to get seller ratings is via Google customer reviews. Google shopping Ads - Supported CountriesGoogle shopping ads are a particular type of search campaign. It needs an active Google merchant center to work. Due to rules and regulations across different countries, Google currently offers Google Shopping only in a limited number of them. Supported Countries in Africa
Supported Countries in Asia
Supported Countries in Europe
Supported Countries in North America
Supported Countries in Oceania
Supported Countries in South America
If you are a retailer who sells across many countries, You would need to set up a different google shopping feed for every one of them. There are a few extra things to consider once you have decided to target your shopping ads. Google shopping Ads - Supported LanguagesMore often than not a country will support multiple languages. E.g., the United States supports ads in English, Spanish as well as Simplified Chinese. If you want to target all users, you will have to create translated product feed with language-specific landing pages. You can always get away with creating just an English feed, but it is recommended to create feeds for different languages. Country Language Argentina Spanish; English Australia English; Simplified Chinese Austria German; English Belgium French; Dutch; English Brazil Portuguese; English Canada English; French; Simplified Chinese Chile Spanish; English Colombia Spanish; English Czechia Czech; English Denmark Danish; English France French; English Germany German; English Hong Kong Traditional Chinese; English India English; Hindi Indonesia Indonesian; English Ireland English Israel Hebrew; English Italy Italian; English Japan Japanese; English Malaysia English; Simplified Chinese Mexico Spanish; English Netherlands Dutch; English New Zealand English Norway Norwegian; English Philippines English Poland Polish; English Portugal Portuguese; English Russia Russian; English Saudi Arabia Arabic; English Singapore English; Simplified Chinese South Africa English South Korea Korean; English Spain Spanish; English Sweden Swedish; English Switzerland English; German; French; Italian Taiwan Traditional Chinese; English Thailand Thai; English Turkey Turkish; English Ukraine Ukrainian; Russian United Arab Emirates Arabic; English United Kingdom English United States English; Spanish; Simplified Chinese Vietnam Vietnamese; English Google Shopping Ads- Supported CurrenciesIt is recommended to have a local currency feed while targeting a different country. Luckily Google has a built-in currency conversion algorithm if you do not have a local currency feed.
Country of sale Supported currencies Argentina Argentinian Peso (ARS) Australia Australian Dollar (AUD) Austria Euro (EUR) Belgium Euro (EUR) Brazil Brazilian Real (BRL) Canada Canadian Dollar (CAD) Chile Chilean Peso (CLP) Colombia Colombian Peso (COP) Czechia Czechian Koruna (CZK) Denmark Danish Krone (DKK) France Euro (EUR) Germany Euro (EUR) Hong Kong Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) India Indian Rupee (INR) Indonesia Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) Ireland Euro (EUR) Israel Israeli New Shekel (ILS) Italy Euro (EUR) Japan Japanese Yen (JPY) Malaysia Malaysia Ringgit (MYR) Mexico Mexican Peso (MXN) Netherlands Euro (EUR) New Zealand New Zealand Dollar (NZD) Norway Norwegian Krone (NOK) Philippines Philippine Peso (PHP) Poland Poland Z_oty (PLN) Portugal Euro (EUR) Russia Russian Ruble (RUB) Saudi Arabia Saudi Riyal (SAR) Singapore Singapore Dollar (SGD) South Africa South African Rand (ZAR) South Korea South Korean Won (KRW) Spain Euro (EUR) Sweden Swedish Krona (SEK) Switzerland Swiss Franc (CHF) Taiwan New Taiwan Dollar (TWD) Thailand Thai Baht (THB) Turkey Turkish Lira (TRY) Ukraine Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH) United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) United Kingdom British Pound (GBP) United States US Dollar (USD) Vietnam Vietnamese Dong (VND) Google Shopping Ads - Advantages1. Better ROAS than other campaign typesGenerally speaking, Google Shopping ads will outperform all other ad types in Google Ads in both return on ad spends as well as conversion rate. There are exceptions as always. Maybe your brand campaign will have a better conversion rate. We are however focusing on generic searches here. Let us take an example. You can see clearly from the image above that the shopping ad conveys more clarity about what the user can expect compared to the search ad. 2. Better usersYou would see a lot higher bounce rate or reduced interaction with the website in search campaigns compared to shopping campaigns. Google Shopping campaign users are not surprised by the price or by how the product looks. They will instead spend their time comparing or moving further in the purchase funnel. 4. Google Shopping Ads are easier to createOne of the main reasons why Google started Google Shopping Ads was due to the difficulty retailers faced while creating search campaigns. In a traditional search campaign, one has to define keywords and ads. Imagine the horror faced by retailers who have 1000s of products. They needed a better solution. Google Shopping completely avoids the need for keywords. A retailer can upload their inventory to Google Merchant Center to start Shopping Ads. Since the inventory in some form was always available to them, Uploading it to the Merchant Center was no difficult task. One cannot, however, upload any data to the Merchant Center. Google has specified compulsory fields like price, image link, title, etc. Uploading product data, however, is much easier than creating ads and keywords for every single product. 5. Broader reach than other campaign typesMarketers are smart people. But not even the most intelligent marketer can guess all the relevant searches a user can make to find a product. Google on the other hand with their advanced algorithms and multiple experiments can show relevant ads to these searches. This technological supremacy results in a much broader reach of shopping ads compared to a search ad. E.g., I searched for the "best shirt for the wedding". The ads I saw in Google Shopping do not have anything related to a wedding in their product titles. But the ad was relevant to me. There will be thousands of other searches where Google will find relevant products from your inventory automatically. 6. Lower CPCAs a rule of thumb, shopping campaigns will be cheaper than search campaigns. Why is it cheaper though?. In an ideal world full of smart marketers, shopping ads should be expensive. Shopping ads convert better than search, and it would, therefore, be prudent to increase their bids. The answer lies with ad relevance. 7. Mobile friendlyI am not saying regular text ads are not mobile-friendly. Google has spent considerable time and effort in making sure the ads look brilliant on all devices. But the fact remains that Shopping ads seem better on mobile devices. In an increasingly mobile-first world, Investing in Google Shopping ads should be your priority as a retailer. 8. Automatically updatedImagine search ads being the only ad type in Google Ads. You create 1000s of ads for all your products. Then their prices change. You would have to change every single ad manually. Google Shopping Ads on the other hand, automatically reflects any price change in your products. Disadvantages of Google Shopping Ads1. Cannot target keywordsThe most significant disadvantage of Google Shopping is ironically one of its significant advantages. Google shopping ads do not require keywords. The ads are run automatically based on what Google thinks will work best for a product based on its title, description, etc. 2. Optimization is harderWhen you have 1000s of products, optimization is always going to be a nightmare. Most advertisers are unaware of the potential optimization in their accounts due to the sheer size of Google shopping. 3. Managing google shopping ads campaign is harderIf you attempt an excellent level of optimization in Google shopping, you will find that maintaining the campaigns is a nightmare. You would need to add new products to your shopping campaigns constantly. You have to pause or unpause products based on their availability. Change bids based on how each product is working, etc. Google Shopping Ads: Prerequisites in 2022Since Google Shopping is a particular type of search campaign, Creating a campaign has some prerequisites. #1. Create a google shopping FeedA feed consists of multiple products and their information in a specified format. Google reads the product data from a feed. If you are planning to target multiple countries, you will have to create a different feed for each one of them. The format required by Google includes price, title, brand, description, etc. There are some fields that are compulsory and some optional. #2. Upload Feed to Merchant CenterGoogle Merchant Center is the place where Google stores all the information about a website. Think of Google Merchant Center as a database of all your products. Google's data team verifies whether the feed uploaded by you satisfies the Shopping policies and either approves them or disapproves of them. #3. Google reviews the feed and approves productsGoogle has strict policies on the type of products allowed as well as minimum data required. If you do not follow these policies, Google can disapprove of your products. There is an added danger that multiple policy violations can result in the Merchant Center itself might get banned. How to create a Google Shopping ad in 2022?Once you have decided on bids and budget and various other parameters, it is time to create a google shopping ad. Let us look at how it is to create a campaign in Google Ads. We will later explore better ways of creating a shopping campaign via AdNabu. You can create a new campaign by clicking on the (+) button on the campaigns tab. The process for creating any campaign is the same and starts here. You might not see the campaigns tab if you are already inside a campaign. Ensure that you either click on all campaigns or any of the campaign types to exit out of this scenario. Step 1: Select a goalGoogle has predefined types of campaigns based on your business objective. E.g., for sales, Google recommends either search, shopping, or display. You can either click on sales, leads, website traffic, or create a campaign without a goal's guidance. Step 2: Select Shopping campaignAn obvious step. We are here to create a shopping campaign. Step 3: Select your merchant center
Step 4: Select Standard Shopping campaignThere are two types of shopping campaigns. Smart Shopping and Standard Shopping. Smart Shopping strips away a lot of features but automatically targets audiences in Display, Youtube & Gmail. Step 5: Campaign NameBased on your choices earlier, Both the Merchant Center and target country will be automatically selected in this step. The campaign name need not have any specific meaning, but my recommendation would be to use the country of targeting in the name. You can also add Brand names if this shopping campaign only focuses on a particular brand. a few examples of proper campaign names Step 6: Bidding & BudgetThere are three components in this step. First is the bidding strategy. For beginners, I would recommend manual CPC or maximize clicks. Manual CPC setting allows keeping a check on the amount you pay per click. It is recommended to select the enhanced CPC option while running manual CPC. Maximize clicks is better if you know that you need to spend a specific budget but are not sure about the bid values. Step 7: Targeting and Scheduling settingsNetworks: By default, search partners are included in the shopping campaign. Search partners are usually good sites who use Google Search on their site and will convert more or less at the same rate as Google. My recommendation would be to select this option. Devices: If you do not have a strong reason to not show ads on individual devices, Select all devices for targeting. In an increasingly mobile-first world, ignoring mobile devices would do more harm than good. If you think your site is not mobile-friendly, fix that. If you think desktop customers would convert more, add a device level adjustment for that. But do target all devices. Locations: Even if you do not select any location in this field, your ad will still be limited to the target country of the campaign. Location is useful if you want to target specific areas of a country. E.g., If you're going to run shopping ads only in New York, you can select the state here. Please note, selecting a location outside of the target country will not affect the campaigns. E.g., If you choose London as a location, but your target country is the US, you will not show any ads. Step 8: Create an Ad GroupThere are two options available for shopping ads. Product Shopping and Showcase shopping. Product shopping leads customers to a product-specific landing page whereas Showcase shopping is more about a category. Select product shopping in this step. Similar to the campaign name, you need to define an ad group name that conveys the products inside it. If the ad group targets a single product, write the id or the product name as the name. If the ad group targets a category, write that as a name. We at AdNabu create single product ad groups and name our campaigns based on products. Based on your keyword research, you can specify your bid amount. The bid is the last step of campaign creation. You might have wondered why Google did not ask you which products to target while creating the campaign. By default, all products are live in the campaign. If you wish to restrict the number of products, you can finish the campaign creation and change the product groups to restrict ad targeting. Google Shopping Ads FAQ'sHow to create Google Shopping ads?Here are step-by-step instructions for creating Google Shopping ads
You've now built profitable Google Shopping Ads. What is the difference between Google Ads and Google Shopping ads?To run google ads you need to input keywords manually but Google Shopping ads do not require the advertiser to input keywords, instead, Google automatically pulls keywords from product titles and descriptions that are included in Google shopping feed. Are Google Shopping ads worth it?Google Shopping ads are worth it for businesses who wish to get the most bang for their buck. Google Shopping's tools provide comprehensive and granular reporting so that companies can see how their advertisements help them reach their primary KPIs, as well as track both sales and expenses. How much do Google Shopping ads cost?You are never charged for your goods to appear in a search. You only pay when a customer clicks the link on your ad, which will take them straight to the product page on your online store. As a result, you're in the "Pay Per Click" category. What are the benefits of Google Shopping ads?The Key Benefits of Google Shoppingads are 1. A boost to your click-through rate 2. Customers can be reached at several stages of the purchase process. 3. Appear in the search engine multiple times. 4. Higher quality leads 5. Increase the number of people that visit your website Conclusion on Google Shopping AdsShopping ads now account for more than 75% of ad spend in search. One of the most significant advantages of Shopping ads is the intent of the user. He/She saw the product, its price and clicked on an ad. This user is much more likely to convert than anyone from another marketing channel. Be sure to Check our Other Google Shopping Ads related Articles Listed Below: 1.Google Ads Shopping Campaigns Guide. 2.Google Shopping Campaign For Apparel Industry. 3.Google Ads shopping campaign for Industry Tools. 4.Google Ads shopping campaign for Furniture Industry. 5.Google Ads Shopping Campaigns in 3 Simple Steps. 6.Beginner's Guide to Google Shopping Ads. |