Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads

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1 Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads May 2012 Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads

2 Introduction Google Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads are an important part of any E-Commerce search marketing strategy. Product Extensions and Listing Ads are a great method for distinguishing your ad from the competition, while offering a more engaging user experience. With Product Extensions, your paid search ad will appear with an image and exact price of your product, allowing users to review your products and pricing before reaching your site. Clicks on Google Product Listing Ads accounted for 11% of all Google clicks and average cost-per-click was 18 percent below standard text ads in Q By increasing visibility on the search results page (SERP), Product Extensions and Listing Ads result in higher click-through-rates and conversion rates than on standard text ads, helping to generate highly qualified traffic and save you money. What s the difference between Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads? Product Listing Ads are the ads that appear on the right side rail of the SERP and include product information, such as product image, price, and domain name. They can also include coupons and promotions. Product Listing Ads are not associated with keywords or your cost-per-click bid information. Instead, Product Listing Ads are shopping results, displayed when a user enters a search query related to a product in your Google Merchant Center account. Unlike traditional text ads, you will only be charged for Product Listing Ads when a user clicks on your ad and completes a purchase on your site. Here is an example of a Product Listing Ad: Product Extensions appear below your text ad and can include product images, product names, and prices. Unlike Product Listing Ads, Product Extensions are directly associated with your search campaign keywords and your Google Merchant Account. If your accounts are associated, Product Extensions will appear when your Google Merchant center account contains a product that Google deems relevant to a user s search query. When a customer clicks on your ad or product image, they ll be directed to that product within your Merchant Center account. Product Extensions are priced according to cost-per-click, just like traditional text ads. Here is an example of a Product Extension: 1. Digital Marketing Report, Q Data-Driven Online Marketing. Rimm-Kaufman Group, Web. 17 Apr < com/thought-leadership/quarterly-reports/q1-2012/>. Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 2

3 Note: It is possible to have two ads - product listing and text - shown on the same page from separate auctions. Benefits of Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads include: u Improved click-through-rates (CTRs) u Increased SERP exposure u Higher lead quality and conversion rates u Reduced cost-per-action on Product Listing Ads u Easier targeting How to Set Up Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions Setting up Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads is fairly straightforward. First, you will need an AdWords Account and a Google Merchant Center Account. For more information on Google Merchant Center, go here: Next you will need to connect your Google AdWords account with your Google Merchant Center account. To do that, simply log in to your Merchant Center account, click Settings, then AdWords. In the drop box, enter your AdWords customer ID and click Add. Once you ve linked your Merchant Center account with your Google AdWords account, you can begin setting up your Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions. It takes approximately 12 hours for the two accounts to connect. In the meantime you can start building out your campaigns. Product Listing Ad Set Up 1: Create a new campaign set to serve on the Search network. 2: Next, you need to create AdGroups. Your AdGroups can be broad to cover all products or set more specifically to cover brand names, product types, product themes, etc. For the more specific AdGroups, make sure that your product feed includes the necessary attribute you are targeting (e.g., include a column entitled product type, etc.) All bidding is done at the AdGroup level, so make sure to set a maximum cost-per-click amount for each AdGroup. Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 3

4 u If you plan on creating specific AdGroups, create an additional generic AdGroup that pulls from your entire feed and covers all products. u If you break out AdGroups, add negative keywords at an AdGroup level to avoid cross mapping of your ads. For example, if you have a hammer AdGroup and a screwdriver AdGroup, you would want to add hammer as a negative keyword in the screwdriver AdGroup and vice versa. This would prevent someone who s searching for a hammer from coming across an ad for a screwdriver. u If your business sells a wide range of products, it is important to make your campaigns as specific as possible. We recommend separate AdGroups for each product category. This will provide more control over bidding, offer copy, and targeting. 3: Create one ad in each AdGroup. To select the ad type, click on the New Ad button and select Product listing ad. Use the field box next to Promotion to include any discount codes, shipping deals, etc. This field can be left blank if there are none. 4: Add your negative keywords. Click on the keyword tab at the top. When the window loads, click on the +Negative Keywords link. If you are only adding negatives to avoid cross mapping between your AdGroups, make sure that you only add AdGroup negatives. 5: Click on the Ad Extensions tab. Here, you ll be adding a Product Extension. When the new extension box appears, locate your product feed in the dropdown box, select it, and hit save. 6: Click on the Auto Targets tab. Select +Add Product Target. In the dropdown box, differentiate the different types of products you want to appear in your separate AdGroups. For a generic AdGroup, select Add all products. For a specific AdGroup, select Add a group of products to choose what attributes you are targeting. Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 4

5 u Click on the Validate button to make sure the product feed recognizes the product you are trying to target. If it is a green check, it s been recognized. If it is an X, there is a discrepancy between what appears in your feed and what you have entered into the field. 7: Enable your campaign and start tracking impressions, clicks, and conversions. Product Extension Set Up Setting up Product Extensions is even simpler than Product Listing Ads. For campaigns where you want to show Product Extensions, simply select the campaign name, click on the Ad Extensions tab, and follow Step 5 above. Optimize with Product Targets Product targets allow you to select which products are eligible to show on Product Listing Ads, and they also allow you to bid differently on different sets of products. You can manage your product targets through the Auto Targets tab. If no product targets are selected, Google will default to All Products. Target which products you want to show with your Product Listing Ads by choosing attributes (below) from your Google Merchant feed. This allows your Product Listing Ads within the AdGroup to appear for user queries that are related to the product targets. u Brand the product s brand as specified in your Merchant Center account. u Product_type the product s category. u Condition the condition of the product (new, used, and refurbished). u Adwords_grouping group products in any way you want in order to manage bids, e.g. by brands, categories, etc. Works for both CPA and CPC Google programs. u Adwords_labels similar to adwords grouping, but it only works with the CPC programs and can hold multiple values separated by commas. Best Practices for Setting up Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads How you set up your Product Listing Ad and Product Extension campaigns will depend on your overall campaign goals. Let s explore a few scenarios to demonstrate how campaign setups can vary depending on campaign goals: Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 5

6 Campaign Setup Options Bidding Strategy Bid the same amount for all products Messaging Needs No promotional messages or one that works for all your products Different promotional messages for different sets of products Recommended Approach 1. Create one ad group. 2. Create one product target set on All Products (enabled by default during ad group creation). 3. Create one product listing ad. 1. Create multiple ad groups. 2. For each ad group, create one product target set with one product target each. 3. Create a corresponding product listing ad per ad group with promotional messages. 4. Use the same bid or commission for each ad group. Different bid for different sets of products No promotional messages or one that works for all your products Different promotional messages for different sets of products Google Merchant Center: Set up your feed data within your Google Merchant Center account to define groups of products (such as by brand, category, etc.) AdWord: 1. Create one ad group. 2. Within the ad group, create the same product targets to match all the different sets of products with the distinct bids (CPC) or commissions (CPA%) you want. 3. Product targets attributes: CPC Campaigns: Use condition, brand, product_type or adwords_labels attributes to create the different product targets. CPA% Campaigns: Use adwords_grouping to create the different product targets. 4. Create at least one corresponding product listing ad for the ad group. Google Merchant Center: Set up your feed data within your Google Merchant Center account to define groups of products (such as by brand, category, etc.) AdWords: 1. Create multiple ad groups. 2. Create one product target per ad group with a corresponding product listing ad with promotional message. 3. Product targets attributes: CPC Campaigns: Use condition, brand, product_type or adwords_labels attributes to create the different product targets. CPA% Campaigns: Use adwords_grouping to create the different product targets. 4. Indicate your bid or commission for each product target you ve defined. Best Practices for Product Extensions Bidding for Product Targets To set bids once you ve created the Product Targets, you can edit the bid by inline editing it in the Autotargets tab. Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 6

7 Start with an all products target, then think about being more granular using one of the following approaches: 1: Product Type a. Customize your products into groups using adwords labels (ie free shipping products). 2: Brand a. Able to combine multiple targets (ie brand and product type). b. For multiple promo texts, use multiple ad-groups. c. Grouping products by deals (ie all free shipping or sale products together). Product Listing Ads Case Study: Online Apparel Retailer Background The client is a mid-size retailer of footwear, clothing, and accessories from major urban brands. Challenge Traditionally an offline retailer with over fifty brick-and-mortar stores, the client wanted to expand its business online with paid search advertisements. The client launched a small SEM campaign in-house, but without a recognizable online brand and limited online marketing experience, they struggled to optimize their campaigns and drive revenue. They turned to The Search Agency to expand their paid search marketing campaigns, drive conversions, and improve their return on investment (ROI). Solution The Search Agency s Account Team immediately went to work introducing Product Listings Ads, optimizing the client s product information feed on the Google Merchant Center, and overhauling the account structure. u Introduced Product Listing Ads As a relatively unknown online retailer, Product Listings provided an exciting opportunity for the client to leverage the brand recognition of its products, e.g., Nike, Converse, New Balance, Puma, dominate more space on Google s results page drive more quialified traffic, and gain new customers. Provided richer product information Product Listing Ads enabled the client to provide potential customers with richer product information, e.g., price, product image, and brand, without having to include additional keywords or ad copy. This results in a better customer experience, allowing them to browse products and compare prices before clicking on an ad. Reduced cost-per-action (CPA) Google calculates the cost of Product Listing Ads on a cost-per-action basis, which means that advertisers pay when a customer clicks on an ad and then completes a purchase. u Set up and optimized feed to Google Merchant Center In order to have its products listed in Google Product Search, the client needed to submit a feed to Google s Merchant Center database. The Account Team immediately set out to optimize the Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 7

8 client s Google Merchant Center feed to include relevant information about its 3,000 products, including availability, price, tax and shipping. Specific apparel requirements Google requires advertisers to provide specific details for apparel items. The Account Team optimized the feed to include the gender, age group, color, size, material, and pattern for each of the client s available products. u Leveraged Negative Keywords The Account team added negative keywords in AdGroups to exclude brands, styles, and sizes the client doesn t carry to avoid cross mapping of ads. u Driving Product Listing Promotions The Account Team added relevant value propositions to ad copy to advertise promotions, e.g., 25% off your next order or Free Shipping with orders of over $100. Results Introducing Product Listing Ads into the account increased conversions by 39 percent and improved return-on-investment by 27%. Best Practices for Optimizing Product Extensions and Product Listing Ads u Leverage negatives and product targets. u Optimize your Google Merchant Center data feed to include product images, categories, and titles. u Include keywords in your product titles and descriptions to help Google determine relevance and increase the likelihood of having your Product Extensions displayed. u Optimize your Google Merchant Center data feed with keyword-rich content that will match your customers search queries. Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions are a straightforward way to increase SERP visibility and differentiate your paid search ads from your competition. By providing your customers with an improved online shopping experience with Listing Ads and Product Extensions, you will increase ROI with more highly targeted traffic and improved click-through rates. Best Practices for E-Retailers: Driving ROI with Google Product Extension and Listing Ads 8