Google Merchant Center, the so-called Google Shopping

Currently, these transactions mostly take place via the Internet, where the customer and the seller virtually meet, most often on the seller’s website. However, in order for the customer to reach it and, most importantly, to make a purchase, it is necessary to have it in front of his/her eyes! This is what Google Shopping allows.

The advantages of Google Shopping

For an online store, there are actually only advantages to advertising through Google Shopping. Below are some of the greatest:

Google Merchant Center feed

A feed is a product list that uses attribute groups that uniquely define each of the products offered on the seller’s website.

Attributes may have standardized values ​​or contain previously defined terms. It is different in the case of attributes related to the “identifier” or “title” of products, as these can have their own values ​​inserted. Therefore, the submitted product feed contains a number of information about the product in Google Center. These are basic information, such as the title, description, size, color, price, but also more complex structures, such as [maximum_energetic_effectiveness_class] or information about whether a given product is included in the collective packaging.

Using these attributes when creating an accurate product description will allow users to find products more easily and advertisers to match them better to customer searches.

The required information in Google Merchant Center regarding the products we want to advertise is:

The quality and quantity of information sent about products is used to match the product to the user’s search. The campaign will only deliver the satisfactory results if each product is properly described based on correct and comprehensive data. Therefore, not only the basic and most common data, such as the title or description are important, but also those that will allow a better differentiation of a given offer from other advertisers and a more precise match to the user’s searches, and thus to his / her expectations.

Appropriate product feed format

Supported product feed formats are text (.txt) and XML (.xml). Depending on the quantity of products, appropriate formats are recommended. Small retailers are usually advised to use the .txt format as it does not require a lot of technical knowledge and is easier to obtain. Such a feed in .txt format can be easily created using a spreadsheet editor, or you can generate a spreadsheet from a template previously filled in by the seller or upload an existing spreadsheet.

In the case of online stores offering a large number of products and having an advanced sales platform and specialists responsible for its maintenance, you can obtain a data file in XML format.

The feed with our products can also be categorized and the articles that, for example, we currently do not want to sell can be excluded from the shopping campaign. We also have the ability to manage the rates of individual products, e.g. depending on the season, revenues generated by a given product or the actions of the competition.

Selection of the most important products for advertising on Google Shopping

Due to differences in the quality of descriptions, titles and information sent to Google Merchant Center, as well as differences in the business goals of the advertising business, it is sometimes impossible to take care of every product.

Online stores that offer several or a dozen products usually have a clearly and specifically defined target group, and their products are displayed on specific customer searches. Each of the offered products can, therefore, be equally important in the context of business and bring similar profits. However, for larger stores with thousands of products, with very different prices and properties, it is suggested that you identify the ones you care about the most and make sure they receive the most impressions, clicks and conversions.

Optimizing a shopping campaign is also based on monitoring the best performing products and other factors that affect sales results, such as return on investment. It may turn out that the previously made assumptions regarding a given type of product or category were wrong and the previously excluded solutions turn out to be the most profitable.

Shopping ads appear to customers at different levels of the shopping path, some already know the advertiser’s brand, for others, thanks to the advertisement, it will be the first time they will appear on their website. Each of these customers may therefore make a different decision, sometimes completely different than the seller would expect. For example, thanks to an advertisement on Google Shopping, a user who has never heard of a given business may decide to buy products that are not so often bought by regular customers who directly visit the advertiser’s website in search of specific products, avoiding those unknown to them.

How much does an advertising campaign on Google Shopping cost?

The amount of budget needed depends on the competitiveness of the industry and products. Of course, at the very beginning, it is the advertiser, after the initial analysis of the Google Ads specialist, who determines the total and daily budget. It is suggested that the daily budget should be chosen based on advertising goals and the average amount that the advertiser wants to spend each day. If your daily budget is too small, it may run out in the middle of the day, and in the result your ads will not show and not achieve the desired results.

By specifying the monthly budget at the very beginning, it is easy to determine the daily budget, just to divide the value of the previously established monthly budget by 30.4 (that is the average number of days in a month).

Billing model in the Shopping campaign

The choice of the billing model is usually the job of a Google Ads specialist who will best adjust the appropriate models and their rates, depending on the goals set by the advertiser. In Google Shopping, we have the option of choosing three goals related to appropriate billing models, i.e.:

Depending on whether advertisers want to attract users to their website or increase revenues by maximizing conversion value, an appropriate goal is selected. Before making a decision, a Google Ads specialist analyzes many different variables and conducts a conversation with the advertiser in order to understand better the specifics of his or her business and goals, both business goals and strictly marketing.

How to define the goal of an advertising campaign in Google Shopping?

The choice of campaign goal will have a huge impact on the subsequent analysis and interpretation of the results obtained by the advertiser. It is important at the very beginning to consider the main goals of the business, in this case, the online store, and whether the brand is already widely known or has just appeared on the market.

The goals and billing models presented above can be used both at the ad group and campaign level, so we do not have to decide on one single goal and billing model for the entire shopping campaign, that is for all products.
Appropriate billing models can be adjusted depending on the group of products we want to advertise.

How to determine the budget of a shopping campaign?

The budget of a shopping campaign is usually determined by the advertiser at the outset. Sometimes, however, advertisers decide to adjust it after reading the initial offer and after the first talks with a Google Ads specialist.

Initial consultation allows both parties to plan the structure of the campaign and its implementation. Thanks to the initial conversation, the Google Ads specialist has the opportunity to better understand the advertiser’s industry, its customers and other specific aspects of the business.

The advertiser receives a huge amount of data and information about the operation of Google Shopping ads, the best tactics and suggested changes or adjustments of the website in order to achieve the best results. Then, after a thorough analysis of the available information, the budget should be defined, both total (monthly) and daily.

Of course, setting a budget does not necessarily mean that it can never be changed. The Google Ads specialist consults the advertiser on an ongoing basis, so as to be able to react to, for example, the so-called high and low season, or other variables that affect the advertiser’s business.

Google Shopping Information Summary:

The possibility of advertising on Google Shopping can be used by both a small online store, with several or a dozen products in its portfolio, and a large one, with a huge number of products. In order to properly prepare for this promotion model, you should remember a few steps, which are presented below:

To launch a Shopping ad, you need to take into account a lot of variables, especially in the case of larger stores with many types, brands and categories of products in their portfolio.

Inaccurate planning, setting and implementation of the campaign may result in not using the full potential of the advertisement, and thus burning the budget and achieving worse results than assumed. That is why it is worth consulting a specialist before making a decision.