To be successful in ecommerce today, entrepreneurs just like you must constantly be on the lookout for ways to build brand awareness and stand out from the competition.
Google Shopping has become an increasingly significant marketing avenue for businesses trying to attract more site traffic and boost sales. Many online retailers are discovering that
Google Shopping ads are often more effective and a more efficient use of their marketing budget than Google’s text-only ads.
If you’re still wondering how Google Shopping works and undecided about whether using Shopping ads is a good idea for your business, keep reading to learn all about the many advantages they offer!
What is Google Shopping?
Google Shopping serves as a comparison shopping engine that lets consumers search for and compare a wide range of products. When users search for a product on Google, relevant Shopping ads will appear in the search engine results page (SERP) or in the Shopping tab.
The platform displays these listings in order of relevance to a user’s search terms and other kinds of Google activity, unless indicated differently. When shoppers click on a listing, they’re taken directly to the merchant’s product page.
If you’re an online retailer using Google Shopping, you’ll benefit from the platform’s visually appealing method for advertising products. When people search for products that you sell, Google will display any applicable Shopping ads, including yours and those of your competitors.
Although Google Shopping is not the only option available for comparison shopping engines, it leads in popularity by a long shot.
Businesses could previously only advertise their products on the platform via paid ads, but after policy changes in 2020, Google now allows for both free and paid listings.
What are Shopping ads?
Shopping ads are paid listings on the Google Shopping platform. Similar to free listings, they feature different kinds of information related to your products, including product title, price, merchant name, product image, and more.
In order for your ads to start appearing during shoppers’ research and for you to start selling on Google Shopping, you’ll first need to create an account in Google Merchant Center. This is where you’ll build your product feed and input all the data for your product catalog.
Next, you’ll connect your Merchant Center account with your Google Ads account to create Shopping campaigns to manage and organize your Shopping ads. When you launch a campaign, you’ll also set your bidding strategy.
Google will then use the information in your feed to determine how and where it will display your ads to potential customers.
The aim is to match a shopper’s search to the most relevant products available. For this reason, you’ll want to be sure that the data in your feed is as accurate and up to date as possible.
While free listings are a great way to dip your toes into the waters of Google Shopping, paid ads can help you to see improved and faster results for your business.
Why use Google Shopping ads?
As an owner of an online store, determining where your marketing funds are best allocated can be difficult, especially when you’re new to ecommerce. Fortunately, Google Shopping offers lots of flexibility so that merchants with a wide range of budgets can participate and reap the rewards of advertising on the platform.
Here are several great reasons that just might convince you to get started with Shopping ads as soon as possible!
1. Your business will be in the spotlight
In the competitive world of ecommerce, it’s crucial that you find a way to make your business shine. With Shopping ads, consumers will see numerous details for the item you’re selling.
These include a photo of your product in addition to its name and price, your business name, and other data. The variety of information that Google Shopping provides is appealing to shoppers and can give your business a competitive edge.
Furthermore, the only way to get your business to show up at the very top of the SERP is by using Google Shopping ads. Google displays them even above the text ads, which means they’re the first thing that people see.
A search for “runner’s vest” in Google displays Shopping ads at the top of the SERP, with paid text-only ads appearing just below
2. The leads you get will be of better quality
Say that you sell wool socks with goofy animal motifs. If your product shows up in Google Shopping results, consumers will immediately have useful information at their disposal to quickly decide if the item is right for them. Besides a photo of the product, they’ll be able to see its price and the name of your business.
If they opt to click on your ad, they’re likely quite interested in purchasing your product. At this point, they already know what the item looks like and if it fits into their budget. The very nature of Google Shopping separates casual shoppers from those with a strong intent to buy.
Note that you don’t have to include the price of your product in your listing. However, if you don’t supply this information at the start, people might still check out your ad but leave the product page of your website immediately when they see how much that it costs. This in turn can lead to a higher bounce rate for your store.
To avoid this, it’s generally best to include your product’s pricing in the listing. In addition to improving the chances of consumers making a purchase, it demonstrates transparency and can help build trust in your brand.
3. It’s great for attracting users shopping with mobile devices
It probably won’t come as a shock to you that mobile commerce is on the rise. People are using their smartphones and other devices these days for everything from tracking their fitness efforts to playing games, connecting with friends on social media, and much more.
Shopping is no exception!
According to Statista, there were 167.77 million U.S. shoppers who’d made at least one purchase online using a mobile device in 2020. This figure is estimated to reach around 187.5 million in 2024.
When shopping with a mobile device, users will see Shopping ads front and center after searching for a product. These ads are displayed at the top of their device’s screen, taking up a fairly large percentage of the viewing area. Users are able to view the first 25 results from Shopping ads as they scroll across their screen.
If one of these products catches their attention immediately, they might not even glance at the text ads or organic results further down the page!
How the Google Shopping results appear with a search for “runner’s vest” performed on a mobile phone.
Your business can show up multiple times during a search
The more frequently a potential customer sees your product, the greater the chances are that it will stick in their minds. This will hopefully also lead to increasing their curiosity about the item and your business.
When you create Shopping ads, you can potentially boost the frequency that your website will appear for a single search.
Consider this. If consumers are utilizing keywords related to your product in their research, your business may show up in both the Shopping ads and the text ads.
Google could also display it in the list of organic results, which is all the more reason to make an effort with your website’s search engine optimization (SEO)!
5. The use of images helps you to stand out from competitors
When consumers look for products on the internet, a SERP with a wall of text can be overwhelming. If they’re in a hurry or already know exactly what they’re looking for, search results with high-quality product photos can be very attractive.
The images in Google Shopping ads allow consumers to instantly see what a product looks like without having to visit the online store.
If they like what they see or want to learn more, they won’t hesitate to click through to the store’s website. This is, of course, why using high-quality photos of your products is key!
6. Shopping ads generally perform better than text ads
Today’s merchants on the Web are increasingly setting aside a greater portion of their marketing budget for Shopping ads.
In 2018, Smart Insights reported that for U.S. online retailers, 76.4% of their retail ad spending went to Google Shopping ads, compared to 23.6% for text ads. Furthermore, Google Shopping ads won 87.9% of the total clicks for the businesses, while text ads brought in 12.1%.
This higher click-through rate (CTR) aids in lowering the overall costs for Shopping ads and makes it possible to earn more site traffic for the same amount of money.
Shopping ads generally do well because they’ll only appear to consumers who are already interested in your product. The keywords in your product title, including terms that involve “brand,” “color,” and “product type,” are what shoppers are most likely to be using when researching your product.
A higher CTR also means a better return on investment (ROI) for your business. The excellent ROI that Shopping ads offer retailers is an important factor to consider when determining where to allocate your marketing funds, especially if you’re a new business.
7. You can tailor your campaigns to suit your individual goals
Unless you only sell a single item, you likely have different goals that vary from product to product in your catalog.
For example, you might expect certain items to be more popular during certain periods of the year. Perhaps you also have specific versions of one product that are more in demand with customers than others.
With your Shopping campaigns, you can group products together and customize your bids to give yourself the best chance of meeting your various sales goals. This provides you with more control and flexibility regarding how you choose to allocate your budget.
Furthermore, after a while, you’ll be able to understand your customers’ behavior more thoroughly and see which of your products are generating the most revenue. You can revisit your campaigns and adjust your bids accordingly.
8. Shopping campaigns are relatively easy to manage
The most time-consuming part of getting started on Google Shopping is creating your product feed in Merchant Center. However, even with this step, you’ll have automated options at your disposal to help speed the process along.
A carefully constructed product feed is essential to achieving success with anything you do on the Shopping platform. Once that’s complete, though, setting up your Shopping campaigns for ads is a breeze!
As you create your campaigns, Google pulls data related to your products from your feed in Merchant Center. As mentioned earlier, you can opt to prioritize products according to your different goals for your business, allowing you to make the most out of your bidding budget.
In contrast to text ads, which require an extensive amount of keyword research, Shopping ads are simpler. Rather than bidding on keywords, you’ll be bidding on cost per click, which is whenever somebody clicks on your ad.
Note that you’ll still want to have a decent understanding of what keywords consumers are likely to be using online when searching for your products. This is to ensure that you’re optimizing your product titles and descriptions so that there’s a greater chance of your ads appearing for relevant searches.
As you monitor the results of your ads, you can easily update and optimize your Google Shopping campaigns as needed to suit your business’s ever-changing needs.
9. Consumers enjoy a more streamlined experience, leading to more conversions
Another reason why the spending for Shopping ads has increased is because these ads tend to earn more conversions than their text-only counterparts.
This isn’t shocking, as when people click on a Shopping ad, they’ve already seen a photo of the product and know how much that it costs. When they get to the store’s website, they’re usually very close to being ready to make a purchase.
What’s more, this ad directs users straight to the product landing page, which means that they don’t need to spend time navigating the site. As fewer steps are required to get from your ad to the checkout page on your website, shoppers are more likely to finalize their purchase rather than get frustrated and exit the page.
Conclusion
As you can see, Google Shopping ads can provide a significant number of advantages for online stores of all kinds. The control that you’ll have with campaign organization and your bidding strategy ensures an experience that’s tailored to suit your budget and goals.
When used strategically with a top-notch ecommerce website, they have the potential to assist you in achieving even greater levels of success.
If you’re not already using the platform for your business, why wait any longer? Begin harnessing the power of Google Shopping ads to promote your products today!
