Google Ads

Shopping

For some Google searches, image ads appear at the top of the search results. They consist of an image, a product title and a link to the advertiser who owns the ad. These ads are called Google Shopping or PLA (product listing ads). These ads are available to companies that have sales through an online store.

Google Shopping Ads

Google Shopping shows the products you sell in your webshop directly in Google search results when someone searches for a specific product. It offers outstanding opportunities to show a product and price directly to the target audience.

Benefits of Google Shopping campaigns

You can show your product and price to the target group when they are close to a purchase
Ads appear on search terms / search phrases, image search and YouTube
The ads run across all devices: computer, tablet and mobile.
The ads can run at the same time as regular Google Search Ads, which means more and greater visibility. This in turn provides increased potential for traffic and sales.

This is how Google Shopping works

Shopping ads are relevant to most online stores. To get started with advertising, you need to link your Google Merchant Center with your Google Ads account. Then you upload your feed (product data) and then start setting up campaigns in Google Ads. The feed contains all relevant information/product data for the campaign, so you don’t use keywords as you do in Search advertising.

Google is constantly developing the search result and shopping campaigns are no exception. To ensure the best possible results, you should work with the following:

SSL certificate

To enable Shopping ads, SSL certificates are required. The certificate tells Google that the webshop is secure.

Image quality

The images in the ads come from the webshop. The more pictures you have, the better pictures you get on the Shopping ads. What distinguishes the ads in the search results from each other is price, company name and pictures. All three parameters are important, so it can pay to have good images of the products in the webshop.

Requirements for the advertiser

There is also a requirement that the landing page to which the ad links must show the advertised product and it should be easy to buy the product. There are technical specifications for the feed and the user experience should be prioritised. There are exceptions to what you may advertise on Google Shopping, there are restrictions in relation to alcohol, medicine and some other industries.

Price comparison

At the end of 2017, it became possible for price comparison services to advertise through Google Shopping on the same terms as other online stores. It obviously increases competition and places more demands on advertisers. Shopping ads from price comparison services are marked with the service name instead of the Google name.

Brands & other online retailers
A brand owner who sells products through retailers often notices that retailers sell the products through Shopping campaigns. Of course, you want to avoid being in direct competition with your retailer, but it can still be a good idea to use Google Shopping as the owner of a brand. As a brand owner, you have the advantage of having the strongest website in relation to the product. This can be a great advantage when the target group chooses to make a purchase and many also prefer to buy the product directly from the brand.