preface:
Whenever you perform a search on Google, you can’t miss Google Shopping. It’s like having access to a virtual online shopping mall, right from your screen. Just imagine a small box displaying an attractive photo and an enticing price, and there you have it, Google Shopping!
Since its launch in 2012, Shopping ads have been among the most clicked ads on Google’s search engine.
For users, this platform acts like a visual detective to find desired products, providing a glimpse of prices and associated reviews.
For businesses, Google Shopping serves as the ultimate tool to showcase products. It’s a highly visible storefront that translates into significant sales volume. As Google itself states: “Reach the hundreds of millions of users who conduct purchase-related searches on Google every day.”
but what is it and how does it work?
Google Shopping, accessible from the search engine, serves as both a traditional search engine and a price comparison tool. It operates as a full-fledged e-commerce platform where transactions are directly executed.
Google Shopping ads are displayed on the search network as well as across the entire display network and on partner sites.
To orchestrate Google Shopping, two platforms are at work: Google Ads and Google Merchant Center. Google Ads serves as the campaign management platform where you set budgets, bids, and perform optimizations. On the other hand, Google Merchant Center is where your product feed is hosted.
Creating and managing Shopping ads differ significantly from setting up traditional text ads. Google utilizes the product feed and website data to determine which search queries will trigger the ads, whereas traditional ads rely heavily on keyword targeting.
why use Google Shopping?
1- The powerful impact of Google Shopping campaigns
With Shopping ads, products are showcased with just a click. Photo, name, price, brand, business name, promotions, customer ratings: thanks to the variety of information that Google Shopping highlights, your online presence gains impact!
Google Shopping provides a privileged channel to attract high-quality traffic. Visual and informative ads capture the attention of users already interested in products similar to yours.
2- Targeting your audience with precision
Another major advantage is that Google Shopping offers great flexibility in how campaigns are targeted. It’s possible to precisely choose whom you want to reach based on your products, keywords, users’ interests, and their buying habits.
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To ensure optimal performance of Google Shopping according to the web marketing department of the agency, managing the product feed from the outset is of paramount importance. This includes providing high-quality product data. The use of high-resolution, superior-quality images can make a real difference compared to competitors. It’s worth noting that the higher the quality of the content, the more favorable the return on investment the ads will generate.
Another effective strategy is to create various ad or product groups in Google Shopping campaigns, following Google’s recommendations, by establishing a structured hierarchy from general to specific.
Finally, monitoring competition on Google Shopping and assessing competitive position are important. It’s important to keep in mind that visibility and cost per click (CPC) are partly determined by the level of competition. It’s essential to monitor indicators such as the maximum reference CPC, click-through rate (CTR), and observe the click share to understand what share of the market is captured when Google Shopping ads are displayed.
Based on my expertise, Google Shopping is an incredibly powerful tool that works remarkably well, but it undoubtedly faces extremely stiff competition. It’s evident that to succeed on Google Shopping, adequate financial resources are essential. Ultimately, it’s challenging to establish a presence on this platform without an appropriate budget.
Furthermore, it’s crucial that product pricing is fair. Data from 2016, based on the analysis of 15,000 conversions in the German, British, and American markets, highlighted the importance of product pricing for success on Google Shopping.
It’s surprising to note, for example, that more expensive products can reduce conversion volume by over 60%. This study examined hundreds of products whose prices increased on average by +43%, and the results are telling: after the price increase, ad impressions dropped by 70%.
This clearly demonstrates that Google’s algorithm penalizes increases in selling prices.
Google Shopping is a powerful tool, but success requires an appropriate financial strategy and attractive pricing to maximize your success on this “overly” competitive platform.