This is a simple explanatory guide for eCommerce retailers thinking about increasing their exposure online through Google Shopping.
What is Google Shopping?
Google shopping initially launched in 2002 by Google as a free comparison product service or comparison service engine (CSE) as it’s commonly known. It appears as thumbnail images on the top of most product searches on Google. Fast forward to 2020 and it’s still one of the most effective ways of increasing exposure to your products. Google Shopping became a paid for service in 2012. Google Shopping is available on all devices including Desktop, Mobile and Tablet. It can and does appear differently on different devices. Google is constantly testing ways to display the ads on any given search, hence you may see different layouts when you carry out searches on google. Two popular examples on desktop are illustrated here:
Google Shopping Results: Top
Google Shopping Results: Right hand side
Whats the Difference between Google Shopping, Google Search Ads & Regular Organic Listings?
You may or may not be aware that there are a number of ways for your website to show up on any given google search. In this example I have illustrated three of them including Google Shopping, Google Search & Google organic listings (the free ones!). As you can see when it comes to searching for products widely available to purchase online the search page real estate is mostly taken up by Google’s paid listings (Google Shopping and also Google Search Ads). However it should also be pointed out that this is not always the case and organic listings do get plenty of coverage as well as other google product resources like Google My Business listings.
Why should I advertise on Google Shopping?
Quite simply, it works. By bringing your products directly into the google search in such a prominent position, they stick out visually to the user and as such get a higher volume of traffic. Visually, its much easier for a user to understand the kind of product they will find when they click the ad listing and this therefore understandably can increase chances of a user making a purchase. The Google Shopping marketplace is also popular as it allows small online retailers to compete with larger more established online retailers, and whilst budgets for ad spend may not be as large as some of their counterparts it evens the playing field by displaying comparative products directly next to one another. Google shopping is proven to have higher conversion rates for most eCommerce businesses and with the advantage of being able to set budgets, select specific areas to advertise, bid by device and other options, it has become a great way to slowly build up your online presence.
What Information is Displayed on a Google Shopping Listing?
As mentioned above Google is always changing the makeup of a Product Listing Ad (PLA) but the core attributes that a user will see rarely changes. You will always see the following:
- Image: The image of your product
- Title: The name of your product
- Price: Price information related to your product
- The name of the retailer: You!
Sounds good, how does it work?
Google Shopping is created using Google Merchant Centre (GMC), in turn this powers Google Ads which allows you to advertise your products. Creating a feed for your ecommerce store is central to powering Google Shopping and this is housed within Google Merchant Centre.
Each product you wish to participate in Google Shopping requires a number of attributes assigned which must be included within your feed and this is then uploaded into GMC. There are a number of ways to upload a feed to Google Merchant Centre, whether using advanced techniques (like an XML feed direct from your ecommerce platform) or, a simple standalone Excel file or Google Sheet for a simple manual additions.
The more advanced techniques are not complicated and nearly all ecommerce platforms include this functionality very simply. For example if you use one of the many popular ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, Woocommerce or Magento then there will be modules within each platform which will create a feed for you based on the products that exist on your website. This is a great way to get onto Google Shopping and is recommended due to information being uploaded on a regular basis and therefore ensuring its accuracy. But fear not, if you do not have this option available there are a number of ways to create a simple manual feed, either directly through the GMC platform or alternatively uploading your own file and keeping this upto date yourself.
How do I set one up?
Ok you’ve made the decision to set this up for your ecommerce store. There are a number of things you need to cover prior to going live on Google Shopping not to mention some rules you must abide by in order to successfully upload a Google Shopping campaign.
1.) Setup a Google Merchant Centre account
As mentioned already in this article, you cannot advertise on Google Shopping without a Google Merchant Centre account. Note in order to setup an account you will need to claim and verify that you own your domain (simply done with a choice of options), enter shipping information and tax details. You can set one up here: merchants.google.com
2.) Setup a Google Ads Account.
You cannot advertise on Google without setting up a Google Ads account. Note, you will need to add your payment details in order to go live with any campaign plus some other simple company details. Get started here ads.google.com
3.) Link Google Merchant Centre to Google Ads.
Once both of the above have been completed, you will need to connect GMC and Google Ads so that the products can filter through to your google ads account once your feed has been approved on GMC.
4.) Set up a Google Shopping Campaign
You are nearly there, once you have connected GMC & Google Ads and everything has been approved you can create your first Google Shopping campaign. Goto create a new campaign and select Google Shopping and create your first campaign.
Some Important things to Remember
- In order to gauge the success of your campaigns, make sure you are tracking sales on your website (easily done setting up Google Analytics)
- Set yourself a target to measure this success. What are your Goals, what % of revenue should your cost be in order to be profitable.
- A good feed will go a long way in determining the success of your campaign.
- If you decide to set this up yourself, there is no harm in getting a PPC expert to look over the setup to ensure its been correctly completed.
