Google Shopping ads are highly effective for any ecommerce website looking to maximize their digital footprint. Google has taken notice of this and are already looking to expand their shopping ads prevalence in ways like their increased rollout of free Google Shopping ads.
However, like all marketing strategies, to be effective Google Shopping ads need to be optimised. This is true not only for the ads themselves, but also campaign setup. A strategic, customer focused Google Shopping Campaign can help to ensure strong ROI is achieved.
Read our tips on preparing your Google Shopping ads for success:
Google Shopping Ads Tips
1. Setup Your Campaign For Success
When setting up a Google Shopping ads campaign, you need to create ad groups. Under these ad groups businesses then create product groups to differentiate between products. This can become problematic, depending on the setup. For instance, one campaign with one single ad group and multiple product groups can lead to some products getting little exposure in the market and can make it more difficult to optimise the performance of each product.
Therefore, if wanting to promote specific products, look to utilise multiple ad groups. In each campaign, specific products can be focused on allowing for highly tailored bidding and optimising of that product’s performance. Individual product groups can then be created within these ad groups to focus on specific items such as pink men’s shirts, which can add further control to a product’s exposure through bidding management. It is worth noting the grouping of products and ad groups will depend on your business.
2. Optimise Visuals and Product Data
Unlike Google Search ads, Google Shopping ads don’t utilise keywords and instead utilise product attributes, defined in the merchant center data feed. This is why it is extremely important that your product data is highly specific and thorough. The more information that can be provided to Google the more relevant the product ads will be. On top of this, it is important that the imagery showcases the product in the best possible light. This means utilising professionally done photos, clear and concise descriptions and avoidance of any spelling errors or unorthodox capitalisations.
3. Timing is Crucial
As a business you need to know your customers and their purchase behaviour. What time of the year are particular products more favoured than others? When are the high sales months? This can help to determine the best time to increase expenditure and optimise campaign performance. Timing can also be important for specific businesses in relation to daytime bidding. For example, product searches may spike later in the evening when potential customers have finished work for the day. Therefore, it could be effective to activate specific campaigns around that time frame rather than letting it run at lunchtime. This will of course vary between businesses and industries which is why it’s vital that businesses look to leverage customer knowledge and data to achieve strong ROAS.
4. Leverage Promotions and Ratings
Help separate your Google Shopping ads from the competition, look to implement promotions into your ads. These promotions appear as special offers to customers and can vary from free shipping, to discounts on products. Ratings can also play a key role in selling your products to potential customers. Ratings add authority to your merchandise as others have purchased and highly rated your product. So be sure to include both, especially in highly competitive industries, to encourage customers to convert with your business.
5. Utilise Negative Keywords
While it’s correct that keywords cannot be implemented with Google Shopping ads, negative keywords can be added at either the campaign level or ad group level. Negative keywords highlight specific phrases or wording that businesses don’t want their products to appear against, when a user types this Google. By effectively leveraging negative keywords you help to ensure your products only appear in relevant searches that are more likely to produce a purchase.
6. Consistent Review and Optimisation
One of the most important tips for achieving a strong ROI on Google Shopping ads is to ensure the campaigns, ad groups and product groups are consistently reviewed. Some ad groups or product groups may be performing better than others with higher conversions in relation to ad spend. In those cases bidding can be adjusted to maximise exposure, while under-performing products can either be paused or adjusted with new imagery, promotions or product descriptions to help improve performance.
Unfortunately, as with many marketing strategies, Google Shopping campaigns take time and effort to ensure sufficient ROI. But they can be highly beneficial for an e-commerce business looking to maximise their online presence.
To find out more about how Google Shopping ads can benefit your business talk to the digital experts at Redline Digital today.