If you’re an online retailer, then you probably have a few aces down your sleeve that you use to boost your Google search position and promote your products. And, if you’re savvy about your online marketing strategy, then you might have already dabbled with the ins and outs of Google shopping. The Google Merchant Centre is an excellent tool that enables you to promote your online product catalogue, boost website traffic and improve your chances of converting leads.
Sounds pretty great, right? Well, it is. However, if you want to make the most of this Google AdWords capability, then you need to learn how to set shopping campaigns properly. 
You might also be interested in WHERE DO GOOGLE ADWORDS TEXT ADS APPEAR?
Google Merchant Centre
You’re probably already familiar with what it takes to create a Google AdWords campaign, so we’re not going to bore you with that. But, while Google ads remain a valuable advertising tool, shopping ads have the power to take your marketing efforts to a new level.
Let us elaborate a bit.
Google Merchant incorporates a product listing with all the products you sell. Think of it as a spreadsheet with everything in your store described in details as per Google requirements.
Some key details you’ll have to include in the list are:
- A unique ID used for identifying a product;
- The name of the product which will be shown when the ad is served in the search query;
- A description of the product which will be displayed when someone clicks on the ad;
- A product category chosen from the Google predefined categories;
- A link to the product’s page on your website;
- Product type;
- In stock/out of stock;
- Price;
- Sale price;
The beauty of Google Merchant is that you don’t have to wreak your brain anymore to come up with a compelling text ad. All you have to do is fill out all the relevant information and Google will generate ads automatically using your data feed.
Why You Need It
The Google Merchant was explicitly designed for e-commerce stores. Its purpose is to provide online retailers with a comprehensive advertising tool that will enable them to give better online shopping experiences to their customers.
Some benefits of using Shopping Campaigns:
- More Traffic to Your Website
These ads significantly increase your click-through rate. When put to the test, some advertisers have experienced double or even triple standard click-through rates for their Shopping Campaign links.
- Better Leads
By having the product information featured directly in the ad, potential shoppers are given the opportunity of making an informed decision. As a result, your leads have a higher quality than before.
- Less Hassle
When your goal is to sell, it’s obvious you want to go with a service specifically designed to help you convert prospects into customers. Shopping ads use your product’s attributes from the Merchant Centre to show your product in relevant searches.
- Broader Presence
There’s no actual rule that Google will only show one ad group to online users. If two of your products are relevant to a user’s query, then they will see two of your ads in the product feed.
- Great Analytics Insights
Shopping campaigns give you an abundance of data on how your ads are performing. For instance, you can see how many clicks a particular product generated, and use that information to improve future marketing campaigns.
Payment
Shopping ads work just as other AdWords services: you participate in an ad auction and bid, only to be charged when a user:
- Clicks an ad redirecting them to your website’s landing page;
- Clicks an ad redirecting them to the Google landing page from your local inventory;
It’s mostly another form of pay-per-click service, where you are in control of how much you spend on a campaign.
Where Do Your Ads Appear?
Now that you get what the deal with Shopping Campaigns is, it’s time to go through the places where people can see your ads:
It’s a version of the search engine specifically designed for browsing through the product catalogue. Unfortunately, as of now, it’s not yet available worldwide.
- Google queries
Shopping ads can appear in a regular search engine result pages, sometimes right next to other AdWords campaigns. The purpose is to give users comprehensive results for their queries.
These are pages like YouTube or Image search. However it is not available worldwide, and you have to set the ad to include search partner websites explicitly.
It’s a feature that lets you advertise on popular websites, but it only works for local catalogue ads.
Back to You
Shopping campaigns should be an integral part of your e-commerce marketing strategy. The Google Merchant service is one of the most comprehensive methods of taking your product catalogue and increase its visibility. That can translate into more sales revenue at the end of the day.
Do you want to make the most out of your shopping ads? Contact Australian Internet Advertising today, and we can get started on taking your store to the next level of profitability.
