You have probably heard more than once from colleagues, on webinars or from marketing bloggers about Google Merchant Center, Google Shopping or shopping campaigns. All this may seem like an incomprehensible tangle of names, the answers to five main questions will help you understand: what, who, where, why, how?
What is Merchant Center, shopping campaigns?
Who can use the tool?
Where are these ads posted?
Why is this for my business?
How to create a campaign?
WHAT?
Google Merchant Center is a platform where retailers can add information about their products and stores. This information will be available in various Google services: Search, Media Network / Media Network, Youtube, Gmail, Images.
It is with the Google Merchant service that the path to launching trade campaigns and the opportunity to show the range of your online store to interested users begins.
Trade campaigns and advertising - an advertisement in which the advertisement consists of an image, the name of the product, the price and the name of the store.
The goal of such a campaign is to increase online sales.
WHO?
First, this tool is simply a must-have for online stores, but it can be useful for your business if:
You have many SKUs and several target audience segments. Google Merchant Center will automatically "friend" them.
Your audience mainly uses Google services: from search to YouTube.
Your product (price, uniqueness, appearance) can attract the attention of the buyer even when he is far from buying.
You are ready to experiment and the product meets the platform requirements.
WHERE?
Commercial ads are displayed in Google services:
Google Search (side and top of main search results and ads).
Media network including YouTube and Gmail.
On the Google Images tab.
WHY?
Trade ads, despite the seemingly complex setup (more on this below), have important advantages:
Visibility. Compared to classic text ads, trade ads require images and prices.
Higher click-through rate compared to text ads.
More interested customers - such an advertising tool allows the user to familiarize himself with the product and its price in advance.
Simultaneous placement with text advertising increases the chances that your product will be 2 times more visible.
Convenience of campaign management - the service itself generates advertising (prices, name), the information is taken from the uploaded feed of the platform.
Timeliness and care for the user - product information should be constantly updated (at least once every 30 days), which means that your customer will be shown the most current information about the availability and price of the product.
How?
If you're ready to give this tool a try, here's a basic outline for running a Google Ads sales campaign.
Creation steps:
- Create a Google Merchant Center account.
- Connecting/connecting to Google Ads
- Fodder generation
- Starting a trade campaign
- Trade campaign requirements.
As with any platform, service or site, it is important to follow all requirements and take into account guidelines for successful moderation. To set up in Google Merchant Center, it is important to observe the following points:
Linked Google Merchant Center and Google Ads accounts.
Compliance with Google Shopping policies, which may differ from Google Ads policies. For example, you cannot post counterfeit products, and restrictions apply to a number of categories.
Availability of the secure https protocol on the site.
Product data update - at least once every 30 days.
The presence of a shopping cart with which the user can make a purchase.
Availability of contacts - mail, physical address.
You can read more about all recommendations in Google Help.
Ok, but HOW to create a channel?
The Google Merchant Center feed (Google Shopping feed or product data feed) is a table of key product characteristics used to create and serve an ad.
To create a channel in Google Merchant Center, select Products > Channels from the left menu and click the + icon to create a new channel.
At the stage of preparation, it is necessary to take into account that the tape can be in text or XML format.
The text format is one of the most common and can be created using Google Sheets without the involvement of developers.
The XML format is more complex than the first one. It is suitable for more advanced users and requires technical skills.
Important Note: Google does not support XLS and CSV feeds. It must be converted to text format before uploading to GMC.
What does feed consist of?
- Name.
- Price.
- Item ID.
- Product name.
- Product description.
- Product category.
- Product link.
- Image link.
- Product availability.
After the feed is prepared, in order to run the tool, you need to create a sales campaign in Google Ads, optimize it and monitor its effectiveness.
Conclusion
Shopping campaigns are another way to stand out from the competition, especially if you are an online store, especially if you need a new round of development of your advertising campaigns.
Despite the long chain of preparation for launch, using this particular tool has several advantages. At a minimum, Google will take care of the internet marketer's headache: who, where and when to show your product.
As a maximum, you will attract more interested customers and, combined with text advertising, you will reach a larger target audience.
