Shopping campaigns are emerging as one of the premiere paid search products for businesses looking to expand their reach. However, it's easy to feel overwhelmed when designing one, especially since switching from a simpler product listing ad campaign to a more comprehensive shopping campaign can be time consuming. Search Engine Land reports that many marketers were surprised by some of the pitfalls they experienced transitioning from traditional product listing ads to shopping campaigns. Keeping these three things in mind when developing your paid search shopping campaign will ensure that you start off on the right track and can meet challenges as they come.
Feature the Right Products
This may seem like an obvious step, but picking the right products for your shopping campaign is a vital part of its success. One of the big ways in which shopping campaigns differ from product listing ads is that marketers must create inventory information first, via a specialized feed, before creating ads with their chosen products. Populating your inventory list with items that are diverse yet representative of your brand is an essential part of any comprehensive shopping campaign and needs to be given serious thought — especially as marketers create ad groups with attributes designed to meet different segments. Paying attention to metrics in the first several weeks of your campaign can help you decide if you're going in the right direction, and what kinds of items to feature going forward.
Set Up Your Merchant Center Correctly
Google Merchant Center is the gate through which all of your sales traffic will flow, so setting it up correctly needs to be a priority when creating and updating your shopping campaign. Uploading correct store and product data feeds will ensure that ads are syndicated correctly, not only to your shopping campaign paid search results, but to other Google services as well. Once all your data is set up correctly and you've added filters and labels to target your campaign, you'll also see more relevant and meaningful reporting that you can use to further hone your shopping campaign for improved results.
Use High-Quality Pictures With Informative but Simple Product Descriptions
The hallmark of a successful shopping campaign is that it delivers relevant product results to users who are already searching for similar items, allowing consumers to shop from a search engine. However, because users typically search for broad topics and categories, your company's product listing needs to outshine the rest in order to stay competitive. Using high-quality, eye-catching photos will ensure that consumers find your product, and crafting a concise, clear product description will help them learn about the product in only a few moments. Creating a simple yet effective product description that provides consumers with enough information to pique their interest but doesn't overload them with details definitely takes some work, but it is an essential component of a successful paid search shopping campaign.
Shopping campaigns represent the natural evolution of the product listing ad, providing businesses with a targeted paid search solution that can either cast a wide net or hone in on specific markets. Though getting started can seem like a daunting task, simple steps like setting up your merchant center and featuring high-quality pictures and product descriptions will help make your shopping campaign a success.
