What are Google Shopping Ads?
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Shopping ads are product ads that appear on the Google Search tab (above and/or next to text ads) and the Shopping tab. They include a product image, price, short headline and in some cases a promotion or review stars.
How do Google Shopping Ads work?
A user searching for a specific product via Google Search can trigger Shopping ads. Unlike Search ads, however, Shopping campaigns don’t include keywords in the setup process. Instead, Google automatically scans the product information you provide and if it matches with the user’s search query, your shopping ad can show.
Shopping campaigns have a slightly more complex setup than Search ads or Display ads. They require a Google Merchant Centre account to connect your e-commerce store (such as Shopify) with your Google Ads account. The Merchant Centre account processes the product data (such as images, headline, description, price etc) from your Content Management System (CMS) and sends it to Google Ads where the Shopping campaign can be set up. The data feed updates periodically meaning that any product updates you make in your CMS will automatically come through to your linked Merchant Centre and Shopping campaigns.
Are Shopping Ads suitable for my business?
Shopping ads are an excellent solution for e-commerce businesses looking to get their products in front of potential customers. Compared to Search ads, Shopping ads have the big advantage that they include an image and product price thus giving the customer a much better idea of what to expect when clicking on the ad.
Shopping ads work best for e-commerce stores with a larger inventory of 100+ products. They can still work for smaller online shops though depending on the industry, number of competitors, product variety and other factors.
“I've been working with Janina since June to help our business grow. I have to say, not only is she lovely to deal with she is very professional and definitely knows what she is talking about. Our business is benefiting from her Google expertise and we are looking forward to seeing the progress over time. Thank you, Janina.” – Rhonda, Country Comfort Water Heater
What are the requirements for Shopping Ads?
The main requirement to run Shopping ads is to have an ecommerce store with a product catalogue that is organised in a CMS like Shopify, WordPress, Wix or BigCommerce. You should have a well-developed and organised website that is easy to navigate and purchase from. And lastly, you need a Merchant Centre account to act as the middleman between your CMS and Google Ads but we can set this up for you if required.
If Shopping ads sound like the right ad type for your business and you are ready to increase sales and website traffic, get in touch and book a free intro consultation.