Pure SEO are a Premier Google Shopping Partner
If you’re a retailer or an ecommerce business, your main goal is to get your product in front of the right pair of eyes. Google Shopping accomplishes that objective by serving an image of your product – accompanied by its price and your company’s name – directly to the people searching for that product on Google.
Google Shopping ads show up alongside regular search results, across all devices. Just like with Google Search ads, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. And since the person clicking on your ad is someone who is actively searching for your product, your chances of converting that person into a customer are much higher than with regular search ads.
Where do Google shopping ads appear?
Google Shopping ads show up at the top of a search results page when a person performs a search related to that product – above the organic listings and the regular Google Search ads. Your Google Shopping ad will show up as an image accompanied by the product name, price and your company’s name, in a carousel alongside product ads from other advertisers.
For example, a search for “hiking boots” yields the following search results page (notice the prime placement of the Google Shopping ads).
How do Google Shopping ads work?
Google Shopping ads are managed on the product and category bidding level. Unlike with Google Search ads, you don’t bid on keywords; all queries that match your products are targeted by default. Bidding strategies can instead be adjusted by creating different Product Groups.
Since it is not possible to bid at the keyword level, there is a lot of strategy involved to make sure your ads are showing up for the most relevant terms.
What is the payment model for Google Shopping ads?
As with Google Search ads, Google charges merchants for each click generated through Google Shopping. The cost-per-click or CPC is set by the advertiser, which determines (along with product relevance) how likely your ad is to rank higher than your competitor’s in the Google Shopping image carousel.
It is possible to make bids as low as $0.01 but this will be associated with lower potential traffic since your ad will be buried beneath those with higher bids.
What kind of incentives do Google Shopping ads provide?
Creating your Google Shopping ads is just the beginning. Google allows you to customise your Google Shopping campaigns to provide searchers with more incentive to click on your product ad over your competitor’s. Some strategies that can be used to incentivise clicks include:
- Local inventory ads: Let shoppers who are close by know that they can buy your product at your physical store location.
- Google Trusted Stores: Show potential buyers that you’re a great place to shop by becoming a certified Google Trusted Store.
- Merchant Promotions: Entice shoppers with special offers that appear in your Google Shopping ads.
- Product Ratings: Put a 5-star rating star system on your ads so shoppers will feel confident in their purchase decision.
As a Certified Google Partner, Pure SEO was one of the first agencies in New Zealand to gain access to Google Shopping when it was still in Beta mode. As a result, we have lots of experience running successful Google Shopping campaigns for a variety of ecommerce clients.
