5 Ways to Optimize Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce

Do you have an eCommerce store?

If you do, you’re always looking for new ways to reach your target customers. If you’re finding that SEO and Facebook ads aren’t quite cutting it, you might want to consider Google Shopping Ads.

Online eCommerce was huge in 2019, with global retail eCommerce sales hitting $3.5 trillion. Yep, that’s 3.53 trillion dollars! That’s expected to grow to as much as $6.54 trillion by 2022.

Finding new and inventive ways to capture more customers is the aim of the game–and Google is the biggest player in the market. With Google searches pulling in 70.60% of all global searches, getting onboard with their shopping ad network is the key to success for your eCommerce store.

But as with any new advertising platform, you’re bound to have questions and doubts. This article will guide you through what Google shopping ads are and how to optimize them for your eCommerce store.

Let’s begin.

What Are Google Shopping Ads?

Before you ask what Google shopping ads are, you might want to know what Google shopping is.

Google shopping works alongside AdWords and allows online eCommerce retailers to sell their products directly through Google. This means that your products come across in a more desirable format than you get on a standard display network ad.

For example, if you search for “yoga pants” in Google, you’ll no doubt get ad-based results. The problem with these ads is they don’t have the important micro-conversion elements that drive eCommerce sales.

That’s things like:

Product photos
Customization
Lengthy reviews
Product details or descriptions

When someone searches for a specific product, they don’t want just an ad. They want product photos. They want to see what they might be getting.

You don’t get that with regular text, but you do with Google shopping ads. Instead of regular text, you get specific product images in the searches. This includes reviews, brand name, and the prices.

You can click the right-hand scroller to cycle through different products, and it will bring you new products from that category. That’s a never-ending stream of products to look through.

Google shopping ads are a comparison site of sorts for products. If you’re not featured in there, you’re missing out on sales. If you want to learn how to sell online using Google shopping ads, keep on reading.

5 Ways You Can Optimize Your Google Shopping Ads

To help you make the most of the amazing features in Google shopping ads, we’ve put together this list of five different ways you can optimize your Google shopping ads for your site.

1. SEO Optimize Your Google Product Listing Ads

It’s no surprise that the strategies that work for SEO ranking also work for Google’s product listing ads (PLAs).

Your PLAs don’t work by being reliant on keywords. Instead, Google Shopping pulls relevant keyword data from the data feed you submit to your merchant account. You can also get the same information through the sales and orders app.

The keywords you include in your feed will determine how Google decides to show your ads in relevant search queries.

Therefore, you want to structure your SEO with an information hierarchy in mind. Your product title, one of the most important elements in your feed, provides insight into how this looks.

2. Consider the Negative

Negative keywords are an important part of AdWords, and it’s the same with Google shopping ads. Negative keywords are key to making sure your product listing hits the correct feeds.

Although you can’t select the keywords for your listing to show up, you can select keywords which will result in your listing to not show up.

If you’re selling only women’s clothes, you’ll make your listing pick negative keywords like men, male, children, kids, etc. This will help to disqualify any search queries which contain your negative keywords, hence stopping your listing showing.

It can feel a little backward, but it’s essentially reverse keywords. You can use negative keywords at a campaign level or add them to specific ad groups.

3. Feed Google

Your data feed makes up the entirety of your listings. It’s the lifeblood of your listings. You should upload them to Google on a regular basis to make sure your listings are both accurate and relevant.

Updates daily can help Google understand that you’re a merchant who’s reliable and consistent. Think of it as a supplier who calls in every morning to reassure a business they’ll get their delivery.

The knock-on effect of this means better ad placement and a better experience for your customers. Your ads are going almost always to be an exact match for what’s on your site.

4. Images Make a Difference

What customers see is always an important thing to consider. Using images and photos that are relevant and make your products stand out from the competition is a crucial component of Google shopping ads.

You should also make sure that your images are the correct size. Images that are too small can become blurred when trying to maximize the size.

This can lead to low interaction, as people are rarely interested in a low-quality image. It gives the perception that the quality of the item is low too.

You should always optimize your listings by making sure your images are good quality, relevant to your product, and the correct size.

5. Your Reviews and Ratings Matter

You’ll find that some Google shopping ads will display a star rating and often a review count. This can make or break your ad campaign.

If the reviews are good and the star count is high, your product can stand out positively. Unfortunately, the same is true if your products have a low rating.

People may avoid your products altogether if the feedback and reviews are less than perfect. For your listings to show reviews, you need to have at least three reviews on your one product and 50 reviews across all of your different products.

Your customers will often not leave reviews unless asked or incentivized. Make sure to stick to Google’s terms of use and ask your customers to leave an honest review.