Table of contents
CSS stands for Comparison Shopping Services, which is simply a price comparison engine that is required for product campaigns. Its job is to direct users from the search engine to online stores. Google CSS is therefore one of the comparison sites that until recently was the only option to use product advertising as well. Currently any organization can mediate this process. All they have to do is set up a store and implement the products into their catalog. The biggest advantage of this solution is skipping the commission imposed by Google CSS. As a result, you can lower your CPC rates by up to 20%.
Google CSS and Our Variant
Verseo recently created an offer designed for entrepreneurs who want to take advantage of the above-mentioned opportunity. Connecting your store to our comparison engine is completely free. This step is already enough for you to skip the markup imposed by Google CSS. Your products will then be displayed with a tag “by Verseo” instead of “by Google” as before. In addition we provide assistance in integrating the catalog with our CSS.
Many store owners are distrustful of the above solution because it seems too good to be true. We can guarantee that there are no catches. The savings are right at your fingertips, so all you have to do is reach for them. It would be a shame not to take advantage of such an opportunity. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that the rules of the game have not always been so attractive. Until recently, Google had much more to say in this matter.
Product Campaigns Working for Google’s
In 2007 the Google Shopping platform was brought to life. Since then, the system has evolved many times, although its assumptions were more or less the same from the beginning. After entering a keyword, product images were displayed at the top of search results, even higher than sponsored text ads. This form of creativity turned out to be much more attractive for users, and thus generated higher effectiveness results.
Until recently, Google mediated all product campaigns. Thanks to this, it collected a 20% margin for itself in exchange for exclusive space to expose its brand. The system worked under the aforementioned rules for several years. Finally, the European Commission said: “Enough!” and decided to intervene.
The Law Stands by Diversity
It is true that Google was the author of the Google Shopping system, but this doesn’t mean that the host can seize the entire sandbox for itself and still charge an entrance fee. Representatives of EU bodies condemned the American company for seeking a monopoly and upsetting the balance of power in the online marketing market. According to reports, the closed Google CSS ecosystem was supposed to violate the standards of competition, which from an economic point of view is undoubtedly a positive phenomenon.
Astronomical sums were at stake, so the legal process itself was very long and arduous. The finale came in June 2017, when the European Commission imposed a financial penalty of 2.4 billion euros on Google. In addition, it demanded that other entities be created to set up their own comparison shopping engine. Creating your own CSS provides a basic range of functionality. More demanding customers can additionally join the Google CSS Partner program, which guarantees more possibilities.
If you want to know more about this topic register for our past webinar – you will find an hour long material about CSS and answers to questions from the participants.
Some prefer the old way.
The terms worked out by the European Commission were a nod to entrepreneurs. Many owners of stores lit up when they heard about the possibility of working on their own and skipping the imposed margins. Therefore, they immediately decided to take advantage of such a solution. In many cases, however, they needed the support of an agency which would provide specialist assistance with the migration of products.
Not everyone approaches aforementioned changes with such great enthusiasm. Many managers are more cautious about making any changes in strategy. They prefer to wait, keep a close eye on the competitors and follow the trend only when they are 100% sure that they are choosing the right path. Google has not left these people out in the cold.
As a result, there’s nothing stopping you from continuing to run campaigns using Google Shopping. To do so, implement the product catalog into Merchant Center according to the default settings. Then, the product ads will continue to be displayed with the “by Google” annotation. However, it is worth remembering that in such a situation you have to cover the cost of the commission. Consequently, the rates per click will be 20% higher than when using the support of any CSS comparison service provider.
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that more and more owners are abandoning Google Shopping and choosing alternative CSS. This allows you to get more clicks with the same budget. If the described solution still raises your doubts, you can conduct an experiment. Since one advertiser can use several comparison sites, it is worth running two campaigns and then comparing the results. Individual CSS will not compete with each other, so you do not have to worry about increasing rates. The final results should provide clear evidence in favor of switching to a new model of operation.
Which Option Is Better?
The answer to this question may not be as obvious as it may seem. Much depends on the approach of individual companies in the Internet marketing industry. Some agencies assume that they will charge a fee for linking the store to their CSS, because the client already saves on the 20% reduction of CPC rates. In such a situation, cooperation doesn’t necessarily turn out to be more beneficial than continuing to operate under the current rules.
This is why Verseo’s offer is so unique and stands out from the competition. We will not take a penny for connecting your store to our CSS. This arrangement is pure profit for you. If you have higher requirements, we can offer and price additional services within Google
Shopping such as: segregating products by different attributes, as well as cyclic refreshing of exposed offers. If you are interested then just contact us in any way. Our priority is to get your products connected to the Verseo CSS comparison engine smoothly and seamlessly. To do this, you will need to register with our service, provide a data file, and then agree to transfer your Merchant Center account to our system.
This is all you need to do to get started. Your account will be taken care of by the large team of certified Google ad campaign specialists. Although we joined Google CSS Partner program relatively recently, we already have over 100 online stores under our care.
