Google Shopping Ads: How to Use Them Effectively to Drive Sales
Google Shopping Ads, also known as Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs), are a type of advertising that allows businesses to showcase their products on Google.
If you’re looking to increase your online sales, Google Shopping Ads could be the solution for you. In this comprehensive guide, we will explain everything you need to know about Google Shopping Ads, including how to set them up, best practices, and tips to optimise your campaigns for maximum return on investment.
Contents
1. What Are Google Shopping Ads
2. How Does Google Shopping Ads Work
3. Why Use Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce Business?
4. Is Google Shopping Worth it?
5. Google Shopping Ads Conversion Rate
6. How Much Are Google Shopping Ads
7. How to Run Google Shopping Ads
7.1. Performance Max
8. Google Shopping Ads Best Practices
9. Common Mistakes to Avoid With Google Shopping Ads
10. Conclusion
11. FAQ
What Are Google Shopping Ads?
The main difference between Google Shopping Ads and other types of Google Ads is advertising specific products with a product’s image, description, and price. These ads are displayed on many Google sources and placements.
Here are some Google Shopping Ads examples for different placements.
On Google Search, above the search results:
Or to the right of the search results:
On the Google Shopping tab:
Google Shopping Ads also appear on Google media platforms and the Google Display Network.
YouTube:
On the partners’ sites from Google Display Network:
The user who saw the Google Shopping Ad can click on it and go to the online store, where they can make a purchase.
How Does Google Shopping Ads Work
Google Shopping Ads are cards of your products that are shown on Google Placements. For the system to have something to show, you need to upload data about your products — to add product data feed on your Google Merchant Center account.
The Google Shopping feed must contain:
- Title and description
- Price
- Images
- Other parameters describing your products, if they are relevant to your products: colour, size, material, etc.
This information must be uploaded to the Google Merchant Center in a special format. And from there all the necessary data will be imported into a Google Ads account, where you can set up a Google Shopping Ads campaign.
To learn more, you can read our article on Google Shopping Feed Optimization.
Why Use Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce Business?
There are a lot of benefits of Google Shopping Ads that can help you launch successful advertising. Here are some most important advantages of Google Shopping Ads:
- Google gets billions of searches a day, making it one of the busiest sites on the Internet. This makes Google’s ads one of the most viewed.
- The simplicity of the Google infrastructure will allow you to quickly and easily run Google Shopping Ads campaigns.
- Effective Smart Bidding strategies can help you achieve your goals (when used correctly).
- Performance Max campaign as an automated Shopping campaign allows the launch of ads on several placements fast and simply.
Google Shopping Ads isn’t the only way to promote your eCommerce business. You can also launch Microsoft Shopping Ads. The principles of launching and working with Microsoft (Bing) Ads are very similar. And the import tools will allow you to very easily transfer Google Shopping Ads campaigns to Microsoft Ads account.
Read our article on the best ad platforms for e-commerce to discover other options.
If not, drop us a message and let’s change that with our Google Shopping Ads management!
Is Google Shopping Worth it?
You can achieve extremely positive results with Google Shopping Ads. You can significantly increase your store’s sales by working with your current market or by entering new countries.
You can also make Google Shopping Ads very profitable and get ROAS of more than 1000%.
Also Google Shopping Ads can bring results much faster than other channels like SEO. To learn more about it you can check out our article on SEO vs Google Ads for E-commerce.
Here are some examples of successful results on Google Shopping Ads.
On this screenshot, the average ROAS for shopping campaigns for all time is 1145%, and the ROAS for November 2020 is twice this value — 2000%.
Here, for an ad spend of £297, the client gets £2,970 in value from that ad. That’s 1000% ROAS.
Google Shopping Ads Conversion Rate
The conversion rate for Google Shopping Ads can vary depending on various factors such as the industry, product type, target audience, and ad campaign strategy.
For example, according to WordStream experts, the average Conversion Rate for Google Shopping Ads is 1.91% and varies significantly by industry.
To improve the conversion rate for Google Shopping Ads, it’s important to have:
- High-quality product data
- Relevant and targeted ads
- Competitive pricing
- User-friendly website with a streamlined checkout process
It’s also important to regularly monitor and optimize your ad campaigns to ensure you’re reaching the right audience and driving the desired results.
How Much Are Google Shopping Ads
To effectively launch a shopping campaign, we recommend starting with the amount that will provide at least 3 conversions (sales) per day so the campaign can receive enough data for learning and showing the dynamics of improvement. The best benchmark — 10 sales per day budget, then we will see the best campaign performance and results.
For example, we are set up to start with a budget of 3 sales per day and let’s assume the cost per conversion from advertising is $10, then we should have a budget of $30/day.
If you don’t have a history of sales from ad campaigns and don’t know how much one conversion actually costs, then you need to focus on your expectations (while being realistic) and take a little extra. You may use the average check as an approximate cost per conversion at the start.
To get a more accurate estimate of the traffic cost of Google Shopping Ads for your business niche, you can use the Google Ads Keyword Planner tool to research relevant keywords and get a sense of their average CPC.
In our experience, Google Shopping traffic is usually 20-30% cheaper than the forecasted cost of search traffic. So you can use this information before you start to estimate the approximate budget you might need.
There is also a way to show product ads for free. You can read a separate article about this service — Google Free Listing. It’s a great way to get additional FREE traffic for your products easily.
Google Free Listing is best used as a supplement to advertising campaigns. It is unlikely that you will get a consistently large number of sales from this channel daily.
How to Run Google Shopping Ads
To run Google Shopping Ads, you need:
- Have a Google Merchant Center account with a downloaded product data feed.
- Have a Google Ads account, linked with your Google Merchant Center.
- Set up Google Analytics tracking and track purchases with Google Analytics & Google Ads Tags.
The last point is optional. Physically you can set up and run ads without it. But I VERY MUCH recommend setting up analytics and conversion tracking on your site. That way you can analyze user behaviour on your site, accumulate conversions, and optimize your ad campaigns to work on conversions. That is, with conversion tracking and website statistics, you will greatly increase your chances of running an effective ad campaign that will bring in sales and allow you to make money. Without performance tracking, your Google campaigns will simply be an opportunity to spend your advertising budget without targeting results.
There is a short video from Google that will help you set up your Merchant Center account and link it to Google Ads.
If you already have everything you need from the previous list, you can move on to the next step — setting up a Google Shopping Ads campaign.
There are two types of Google Shopping Ads Campaigns:
- You can run a Standard Shopping Campaign.
- You can run a Performance Max Campaign.
You can read more about the differences between these types in my colleague’s article: Performance Max Shopping vs Shopping Campaign.
Performance Max
Performance Max campaign is an automated campaign with expanded ads show placements. It has good potential and can work well. However, it is not suitable for all advertisers.
What will help you decide if the Performance Max campaign is right for you:
- If you are selling a marketable product with high intent.
- If the product price is competitive.
- If you already know your average Cost Per Order and have enough budget to run a campaign with daily spending at least 5 x CPO.
- If you track conversions correctly on the site. And for purchases, you also track the conversion value.
- If you track dynamic remarketing parameters.
If you use Shopify, you may also read our manual about Google Ads Dynamic Remarketing on Shopify.
If you can’t fulfill any of these points, we recommend starting with Google Standard Shopping campaigns.
Later, if there are enough conversions from it and you have a sufficient budget, you can launch the Performance Max campaign and test its effectiveness for your situation.
It can also be good practice to run additional supporting Search campaigns: search campaigns on keywords or search brand campaigns — with targeting on your brand keywords.
Google Shopping Ads Best Practices: 7 Ways to Optimize Google Shopping Campaigns
Optimizing your Google Shopping Ads can help increase your ad’s visibility, drive more traffic to your website, and improve your conversion rates. Here are some tips for optimizing your Google Shopping Ads:
- Use high-quality product data: Ensure that your product data is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. This includes attributes such as product title, description, images, and pricing. Use high-quality images that accurately represent your products.
- Optimize product titles and descriptions: Use relevant and specific keywords in your product titles and descriptions. Include important product details such as size, color, brand, and model number.
- Set competitive bids: Set competitive bids but also align them with your business goals and budget. Use bid adjustments to prioritize high-performing products or target specific audiences.
- In the case of a Standard Google Shopping campaign, use negative keywords. Use negative keywords to prevent your ads from being displayed for irrelevant searches. This can help reduce costs and improve the relevance of your ads. You can also add negative keywords to the Performance Max campaign, but this process is a bit more complicated and may require contacting Google tech support.
- Monitor and adjust performance: Regularly monitor the performance of your ads and adjust your strategy accordingly. Use performance data to identify top-performing products and adjust bids or targeting as needed.
- Use remarketing: Use remarketing to reach users who have previously interacted with your website or products. This can help drive repeat purchases and improve customer retention.
In the case of shopping, dynamic remarketing is particularly effective. It’s when the user can see dynamic ads tailored specifically to them, depending on what items the customer was browsing or what exactly was dropped in the cart without ordering. - Improve your website experience: Ensure that your website is user-friendly and provides a seamless checkout process. Optimize your website for mobile devices and provide detailed product information to help users make informed purchase decisions.
The Simprosys Google Shopping feed tool streamlines the process of creating and managing product feeds, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance for your Google Shopping ads campaigns.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Google Shopping Ads
- Using the wrong bid strategy, especially during the launch phase of your first advertising campaign. Google auto-strategies are really powerful tools on the way to achieving your goals. However, the more data a campaign uses to train its auto-strategies, the more chance you have of getting the results you expect. So don’t run advanced target CPA and target ROAS auto-strategies at the beginning, when you don’t have any data at all about the approximate benchmarks you can target.
- Not optimizing the campaign for conversions or optimizing for the wrong conversions. It’s important to give the campaign the correct data to learn and optimize on.
- You’re using the wrong structure for your product campaigns. There are many ways to split products between different ad campaigns and use different starter strategies and terms for them. The right account structure can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Low campaign budget/inadequate bid limits. For a campaign to find and show an ad to the right audience, it must have a sufficient daily budget and rate to do so. You’ll also get traffic on minimal bids and budgets, but the learning process of such campaigns can be slow. The campaign may accumulate data for a very long time and never learn. On the other hand, it is important to remember that a high bid does not guarantee sales, so here, as in everything — you need a balance.
Conclusion
Now you know the basic concepts of Google Shopping Ads and can decide whether you need such campaigns or not. Of course, you can go into the topic of shopping campaigns further and further.
If you also think about utilizing paid social media, check out our article on Google Shopping vs Facebook Ads.
Check out other valuable guides in our e-commerce PPC library.
And if you are launching your online store and need advice or help with setting up product advertising — contact us.
FAQ
What is an effective Google Shopping Ads strategy for maximizing conversions and increasing sales?
To develop an effective Google Shopping Ads strategy, you should begin by conducting thorough research on your target audience and their shopping habits.
Next, optimize your product feed to include relevant and accurate information, such as product titles, descriptions, and high-quality images.
Utilize bidding strategies that align with your goals, such as maximizing conversions or increasing sales.
Additionally, regularly monitor and analyze your campaign performance, adjusting your strategy as needed to achieve the best results. Remember to prioritize providing an exceptional user experience by ensuring your landing page matches your ad and is easy to navigate.
Is Google Shopping better than Facebook ads?
It’s difficult to say whether Google Shopping is better than Facebook ads, as both platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Facebook ads are more effective for businesses that are looking to build brand awareness, engage with their audience, and drive conversions through targeted messaging and creative content.
Google Shopping ads are typically more effective for e-commerce businesses that are looking to promote their products to users who are actively searching for them on Google.
Which devices can shopping ads appear on?
Shopping Ads can appear on various devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices such as smartphones. This ensures that your ads are displayed to a wide range of potential customers, regardless of the device they are using to browse the internet. Additionally, Google offers a variety of campaign settings and bid adjustments to help you tailor your ad targeting specifically for certain device types.
What are the best Google Shopping remarketing tactics?
Google Shopping remarketing allows you to show targeted ads to people who have previously interacted with your products on your website.
Here are some tactics you can use:
- Use Dynamic Remarketing: This allows you to show ads to people who have visited specific product pages on your website or app. The ads will feature the exact product(s) the user was viewing, along with any relevant details such as pricing and availability.
- Segment Your Audience: You can create custom audiences based on the actions users have taken on your website. For example, you can target users who have abandoned their shopping cart or those who have spent a certain amount of time on your site.
- Experiment with Ad Copy: Test different ad copy to see what resonates best with your audience. You may want to highlight specific features or benefits of your products, or use language that speaks directly to the user’s needs and interests.
How to improve Google Shopping campaigns?
There are several ways to improve Google Shopping campaigns and optimize them for better performance. You can add negative words, segment your campaigns, optimize product data and bids etc. If you want to take your ad campaign to the next level, contact us.
Xenia Volokitina
Performance Marketing Specialist. Working with PPC since 2016. Specializes in Google & Microsoft paid traffic for eCommerce & B2B projects. In love with analysis. When not launching effective Ad campaigns, she is reading up on the latest in eCommerce and data tracking last trends.