Google is everywhere. Whether you want to learn about something or want to research a product you're looking to buy. Google is the go-to search engine platform. It automatically bumps up the possibility of getting your product noticed when choosing their product listing ads (Google Shopping Ads) for marketing. These ads tend to be more efficient than a lot of traditional text-based PPC ads. 

Be aware; these ads are only available to e-commerce businesses i.e. those who sell via a shop on their website.

Since launching in 2012, Google shopping ads have continued to prove that they're a useful marketing tool for a massive number of businesses globally. Using this platform typically grants extended brand exposure and significant growth, often helping merchants to outdo their competition. But what are shopping ads? And what are some of the main benefits of using this to advertise your products online? 

What exactly are Google Shopping ads 

When searching for products online with Google, you can't have missed the google shopping ads displayed on the search engine results page (SERP). They are also called product listing ads (PLA's), and usually pop up above the search ads when you're looking for a product. 

They will show you high-quality images of the product and display a short section of text giving you the website name, a brief headline text for the image, the availability of the product and possibly any discount rates on the product if applicable. 

Over time Google shopping ads have become a highly rated method for e-commerce sellers to be able to advertise their goods. Shopping ads work so well with e-commerce stores because of how well they make the product easily visible in the search results. They provide precise and clear information about the product prior to the searcher visiting your website. 

Google typically displays its shopping ads in two ways:

1. On the Google shopping platform (previously known as Google Product Search)

2. At the top or to the side of a search query ( when searching for a specific product)

Both offer brilliant methods to showcase your products straight into the Google search results to grab the attention of your potential customer quickly. 

The benefits of Google shopping ads

In case you're still not sure why Google shopping ads could work for you, here are some of the main advantages of running shopping ads ...

You have the ability to channel the power of Google to show your brand or product.

Due to the nature of Google and the fact that its reach has nearly no limits, you're able to show very specific query oriented results to the buyers that are looking for your product. It helps to pitch the buyer to purchase your products straight away. Also, no matter whether you are a small business or a renowned brand name, your product will still be shown to the buyer. 

Providing your product matches the search query of the user, your ad will be shown on the screen of the user. Using shoppers searches, Google is able to match the search to your products, showing your ads to users who already are keen to purchase your product.

Improved CTR results. 

Google's data has shown that many retailers' click-through rate (CTR) has almost doubled as well as reducing the cost per click when using shopping ads compared to the text ads. 

What does this mean? This means that there is a higher chance that shoppers will click on your shopping ad as opposed to a traditional PPC search ad when searching for buy-online items. If more people are clicking on your ads, this also means that you will be able to effectively optimise your ad campaigns to give you a higher rate of conversion.  

So ultimately, you're getting more clicks for less budget and more qualified buyers coming through to your site.

Effective photo-based ad campaigns

It's been proven that images have an improved impact on the consumer's thoughts when compared to other forms of text-based ads. The product image quickly catches the consumers eye and attracts their attention. When using a high-quality image, you're far more likely to make the sale. 

Using shopping ads with a high-quality image also helps the consumer go from searching for a product to being able to purchase in just a few clicks. Using original photos rather than stock images of your product is an excellent way to make it stand out against other similar products. 

Take a look at our blog regarding the correct use of an image on a Facebook ad to gain a better knowledge of image use and effectiveness.

Visibility for mobile users

When using a mobile phone, Google will typically only show two search ads per search. Because of this if your product is not ranking within the top 2 for that search query, people will not see it. This reduces the visibility of your product, and it's overall exposure, as well as diminishing the likelihood that it will actually be seen let alone purchased. However, when using Google's shopping ads, on a mobile device, Google will usually show roughly 15 ads in a carousel format on the ad array. Trends are starting to depict that more and more people are using their mobile phone for everything as opposed to when people used to rely on computers heavily. This means that enhanced views on a mobile device are going to improve CTR on your campaign as well as visibility vastly. 

Easily managed campaigns 

The creation and management of Google shopping ads are usually a lot easier than text-based PPC ads. This is because it rules out one of the most difficult sections. Keywords. Once your product feed has been created, and you've successfully entered all of the information that has been asked of you, you're pretty much done setting up that campaign.

The management of the campaign can be a little trickier. It's essential to check your search terms report to ensure your ad is showing for only relevant searches and keep an eye on other key campaign elements such as device and location data. Optimising a shopping campaign involves a lot of data analysis, especially if you're running an extensive campaign with a mountain of products. 

Updating your products as per inventory 

Make sure you utilise automatic inventory updates. When a change is made to the details of your product on your e-commerce website, this change should automatically update in your Google Ads as well. This way, you don't ever have to worry about the price, name or description shown on your ads being incorrect.  

This feature prevents any confusion between the consumer and the seller. If there is a product that is out of stock on your website, for example, it will automatically be updated on the ad too. This feature allows you to seamlessly run your ad campaign without having to manually update all of the information every time there is a change in your inventory. 

Return on investments

Now it should have been established that Google shopping ads help to boost the number of leads to your products as well as all-around brand visibility. A well-informed shopping ad campaign with high-quality pictures will often return an excellent conversion rate (the percentage of people who click the ad that then go on to buy).

Generally speaking, Google shopping ads are highly profitable. Offering low cost per click charges alongside strong conversion rates. It's not uncommon to see ROI's well over 500% with Google Shopping ads. 

Customisation of multiple labels 

One of Google shopping ads greatest features is that it allows you to customise and create up to 5 layers of labels on an ad. 

Google explains:

"With Shopping campaigns, you can use custom labels when you want to subdivide the products in your campaign using values of your choosing. For example, you can use custom labels to indicate that products are seasonal, on clearance, best sellers, etc. These values can then be selected to use for monitoring, reporting and bidding in your Shopping campaign."

The labels feature helps you to quickly and easily categorise and sort your inventory, in turn, allowing you to have more control managing the performance of your campaign. Using this feature, you can divide your old and new stock based on enhanced features and quality. Most e-commerce stores will make use of this feature to monitor the campaigns closely and optimise their profit margins. 

Great reports for better results 

Google shopping ads have a much better reporting system that allows you to receive more accurate results following your sales. 

Directly within the Google Ads platform, you can create a report containing all of your key metrics allowing you to see exactly how well your ads are performing. You are also able to filter and process that data into the relevant categories, as per the relations to the product; for example, brand ID or product type. 

You should also take advantage of Google's "benchmark bidding strategy". This allows you to compare the bidding of other advertisers that are similar to you. Learn more about this here.

Showcasing your products

To sum up, Google Shopping ads are a brilliant way to raise the visibility of your product and in turn, increase sales. You can easily track the data from any leads or sales that you have giving great performance analysis and allowing for continual optimisation. 

If you own an e-commerce store looking to obtain more sales, I would definitely suggest using this platform.