Google Shopping Ads
Let’s not beat around the bush:
As a webshop or store owner, you are naturally always looking for new ways to appeal to customers. Because the more customers shout from the rooftops how great you are (and buy what you sell), the better it is for you in the end.
An effective way to do that is via Google Shopping Ads.
This is a specific type of advertising that Google introduced a few years ago especially for webshops and suppliers of physical products. It quickly brings extra visitors to your webshop. Who are also already interested in what you sell and often already have a purchase intention and therefore convert faster.
In this article you can read about:
- What are Google Shopping Ads?
- How do Google Shopping Ads work?
- What are the advantages of Google Shopping Ads?
- And more…
Read on…
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What are Google Shopping Ads?
Google Shopping Ads are advertisements that present products directly on the Google platform. The big advantage here is that the potential consumer does not first have to click to the website to see the product. A photo, product name and price are shown directly in the search results. They can be at the top of the search results or take up an entire panel on the right.
Why are Google Shopping Ads so effective?
Since the introduction of Google Shopping, online marketers agree on one thing. Google Shopping Ads are a particularly effective way of advertising. This is mainly because they show potential customers relevant product information directly. Without having to do an extra click, buyers can see whether the product is for them and whether they think the price is okay.
Moreover, your products are in the best possible place in the search results, namely at the top. Where everyone looks first. Even above the paid text-only advertisements and far above the organic search results. The best spot in the online shop window that Google has. And because people have an increasingly short attention span and prefer to have information served in bite-sized chunks and preferably in one place, no other way of advertising can compete with this.
A SELECTION OF OUR most remarkable Cases!
In the cases, we share some of our most remarkable achievements and tell the story behind the successes. At ROXTAR, we strive to push boundaries, exceed goals, and create online marketing strategies that not only stand out but also have a measurable impact.
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Organic traffic doubled 102% in one month!
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De Wifi Specialist
For De Wifi Specialist, we realized, among other things, a conversion increase of 171% in one year!
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For Fixers, the repair company for mobile devices, we have managed to realize more than 350 top 5 positions in Google!
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58% more organic traffic within 6 months
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128% more sessions with more quote requests due to higher engagement.
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159% Increase in number of clicks after 1 year
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Thanks to our strategy, the company generated 167% more leads,
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More conversions from Ads in the last 30 days
Metain
We realized a conversion increase of 59 percent
What are the advantages of Google Shopping Ads?
As an entrepreneur, but also as a consumer, you can benefit a lot from Google Shopping Ads. We highlight a few here.
The Customer Journey
Search engines are a good (perhaps even the best) starting point for customers who are looking for product information or have an intention to buy something. Virtually every customer journey starts with Google these days.
Google Shopping Ads stand out
As we have already indicated above, Shopping Ads are by far in the best spot in the shop window. Due to their format and product images, they also stand out much faster than the other search results.
And you shouldn’t underestimate the power of that. A lot of time and money is invested in SEO to get to the top of the search results pages, but with a targeted Shopping campaign you are immediately at the top and you can almost immediately see the traffic to your webshop increase.
And that is of course what you want.
Show, don’t tell
Due to the visual nature of the advertisements, Shopping Ads are many times more attractive than text advertisements: Searchers immediately see what your product looks like without having to make any extra effort themselves.
Imagine you are planning to buy something yourself: would you rather click on a text advertisement or one with an image? Chances are you will click on the image, especially if it is literally the product you are looking for. A clever copywriter who can write against that.
It also makes it easier for people to compare products, on price, but also on other aspects. Many searchers also use Shopping Ads to quickly orient themselves on products. The additional advantage is that you also stimulate visits to your physical store.
Based on search intent
In the past, advertisements were more annoying than relevant. You were looking for information but had to do your best to discover the content relevant to you between the banners and popups. Or you wanted to watch a YouTube video but were first presented with an advertisement that you also had to sit out completely. Not that that wasn’t an effective way of advertising, but for the average internet user, those advertisements weren’t always that relevant.
Compare that now with Google Shopping Ads. These are based on search intent. They are only shown if people are actively searching for an answer to their question, information about a product or a solution to their problem.
And that is the big difference: At that moment an advertisement is relevant and searchers are much more likely to click on it. With the result that you receive more high-quality leads: The visitors who end up on your landing page have a clear purchase intention and have actually already made a choice for your webshop/product to a large extent at the moment they click through. They are in a buying mood.
Compete on price
Because searchers can immediately see the prices of products next to each other, it becomes easier for them to compare. With Google Shopping Ads you can therefore compete on price and try to tempt people to click.
Up-to-date information
Google continuously optimizes the data to always be able to show the most up-to-date stock information, images and product images.
Targeted and measurable
Like all other forms of online marketing, advertising via Google Shopping Ads is also targeted. You can target advertisements very precisely on the search terms that you (more or less) choose yourself and of which you know that your target group uses them. As an advertiser, you can also indicate very precisely on which keywords you do not want to be found.
Furthermore, the results are easily measurable. Via Google Merchant Center you can measure the results of your campaigns well: This way you can see which advertisements generate the most conversions and you can continue to adjust by optimizing your product feed.
What is the difference between Google Ads and Shopping Ads?
The big difference lies in the appearance of the advertisements. ‘Ordinary’ Google Ads are text-only and Google Shopping Ads contain extra product information and a high-quality product image that immediately shows the product well.
You can also get traffic to your webshop with the text-only advertisements, but you mainly rely on the advertisement text to convince visitors. In addition, the operation is also slightly different. You can read more about that later.
What do Google Shopping Ads cost?
What do Google Shopping Ads cost? Still always an important question. Just like with search advertisements, you only pay when someone clicks on one of your Shopping ads. That is the Pay Per Click principle. How much such a click costs exactly depends on various factors such as niche, popularity and the quality score of you and competing advertisers (see below).
The advantage for you as an advertiser is that you can decide how much you want to spend. The control over your advertising budget therefore always lies with you. There is also no minimum, so whether you want to spend € 0.01 per day or € 100, you can decide for yourself.
And remember: Even with small budgets you can already achieve great results and compete with the big players.
How does this work?
We already said that the operation of Google Shopping Ads differs somewhat from that of regular Google Ads. Google Shopping does not work like Ads purely on the basis of keywords that you can choose yourself, but with a so-called product feed.
That product feed consists of various information about your products. For example, photos, descriptions and a number of other product properties such as titles, price, brand, specifications, etc.
Google’s algorithms use the product feed for two things. To link your product to relevant search terms and thus determine when your advertisement appears. And to automatically generate advertisements based on that feed.
Of course you are not the only one who uses Google Shopping Ads, there is of course quite a bit of competition. That is why Google has a number of criteria based on which they determine who gets the best spot and whether your advertisement is shown at all. Those criteria are:
Product feed
The better the quality of your product feed, the greater your chance of getting a good spot in the search results. The algorithms mainly try to determine how relevant your product is to the search terms that the searcher uses.
CPC
Although price is not the most important factor, if it comes down to it, Google will always give priority to the person who is willing to offer the most.
Quality score
The quality score is a number that provides insight into how good the quality of your advertisement and landing page is. The score is expressed in a number between 1 and 10. The higher you score, the more relevant and useful Google’s algorithms find your advertisement and landing page compared to those of other advertisers.
Google uses 3 factors to determine the quality of your advertisements::
The expected click-through rate (CTR): This is an estimate of the chance that your advertisement will be clicked if it is shown.
Relevance: How well your advertisement matches the intention behind a user’s search query.
User experience on landing page: How relevant, useful and user-friendly the landing page is where people end up when they click on your advertisement.
Each of these aspects is assessed as average, higher than average, or lower than average by comparing them with those of other advertisers whose similar advertisements have been shown in the past 90 days. The scores are added together and a number rolls out.
It goes without saying that you should strive for the highest possible quality score. If Google likes you, your advertisement will be shown more often and in the best positions. Which logically increases the chance of clicks and therefore more revenue.
What is less obvious (but is positive) is that you will pay less by having a better quality score. Your CPC goes down and you don’t have to bid as much to rank higher. This is because Google wants to show the most relevant advertisements, which is ultimately better for everyone: Google, you and the searcher. In addition, you also get more advertisement extensions at your disposal and you can show extra information with your advertisements such as the location of your store, contact information, reviews and, for example, internal links.
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How do you start with Google Shopping Ads?
Have you read enough and want to get started with Google Shopping Ads? Which is possible. Although there is a bit more to it, the basics are very simple. A child can do the laundry. These are the steps:
- Create a Merchant Center account
Google Shopping Ads work via the Google Merchant Center. A similar platform to Google Ads where you manage your products and product information and can see how your products are performing. Log in and go through the steps to get started. - Import your product feed into Merchant Center
The first step is to create a Shopping Feed. The feed with product information that we discussed above and which actually forms the basis of your Google Shopping campaign. Sounds complicated, it isn’t. It is actually a large spreadsheet containing all the data about your products.
There are several ways to set up a feed:
– Google Spreadsheets, but this can be a lot of work as you have more products
– Link with your webshop: There are plugins for WordPress websites or Magento or Shopify webshops - Link Merchant Center to your AdWords account
Then you still have to link your Google Merchant Center feed to your Google Ads account. Go to the settings and add your Ads account. Then you can create Shopping Campaigns in Google Ads. - Create your Shopping campaigns
Now that you have linked everything, you can start setting up campaigns. You do that in Google Ads.
Curious?
The online experts at ROXTAR are happy to advise you and also have the knowledge and experience to set up successful Google Shopping Ads campaigns and take your online marketing to a higher level. Are you curious about what ROXTAR can do for your Google Shopping Ads campaigns, or are you curious about the other services that ROXTAR offers? Please contact us without obligation.
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Do you want to take your online marketing to the next level? Request a free strategy session now.
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