How Can Google Enhance Your Search Marketing Efforts?
If you’re an online retailer or managing e-commerce conversion campaigns on behalf of a retail client, then utilizing and understanding the value of Google Shopping Ads can help elevate your paid search efforts.
There are a number of benefits which Google highlights to encourage e-com retailers to introduce shopping ad formats into their larger Google Ads campaigns. Some of these include improving share of voice, broadening online presence, bettering lead quality, and accessing powerful reporting.
Extolling the Virtues
Shopping ads display at the top of the search results page with direct links to retailers’ “checkout” pages and are shown in response to purchase-oriented shopping queries. Comparing to a standard text ad, which prospects users to a landing page to view relevant products and encourage flow through the conversion funnel from there, a Shopping Ad shortens the funnel by driving immediate purchase actions, directly from the Search results page.
Utilizing Shopping Ads not only places eligible brands in full view of the active searcher, but the featured product will be showcased in a visual placement with e-commerce functionality built into the ad itself – thereby removing the need for an interim landing page.
Retailers who have successfully ventured into the world of Google Shopping ads are sharing positive experiences. London-based boutique online retailer Farfetch introduced Google Shopping ads into their marketing mix and reported a 20% drop in CPA and a 13% lift in conversion rates with a corresponding 30-45% lift in revenue across markets.
Google Merchant Centre
In order to get started with Google Shopping ads, retailers will need to set up a Google Merchant Centre account. Merchant Centre is a convenient location for stores to upload a product, shipping, and commerce information, to easily create dynamic feeds and ensure up-to-date information is displayed in the live ads. Similar to a dynamic ad group, Shopping ads pull real-time dynamic information from your Merchant Centre account to supply everything from the product image, name, price, and availability in your Shopping ads.
To truly build an all-encompassing Google Ads strategy, the key is to make all of your active ad formats work together for enhanced performance. For example, if a user searches for a specific product, like hiking boots, it is possible that your visual Shopping ad displays on the search results page along with your standard text ad, displaying just below. Increased share of voice and presence on-page is critical for boosting both awareness and consideration of your brand and product offering. As well, brands who show up more than once on the search results page see substantially higher engagement than brands who only show up once.
Making the Right Decision
In summary, expanding your tactics within Google Ads to incorporate a wide range of ad formats is generally a smart choice to ensure the right ad is served to the active searcher, at the most critical moment to drive conversion. Google Shopping Ads may be the most important campaign that retailers and e-commerce marketers add into their paid search efforts in 2020.
To take full advantage of this offering, ensure your ads and Merchant Centre account are optimized frequently and thoroughly. To learn more about running Google Shopping ads, or enhancing your search marketing efforts, connect with the experts at Hotspex Media today.
