When it comes to optimizing your Google Shopping ads, you won’t be able to get away with the “set it and forget it” approach. Google Shopping, one of the most complex campaign types to handle in AdWords, requires expertise from campaign setup to full-swing budget expenditure.While there is a plethora of optimization techniques available to you, we wanted to provide you with a small kick start to get things started. Today, we’ll go through 7 Google Shopping optimization methods that are handpicked and are designed to increase the overall performance of your campaigns.
Also Read: 7 Keys to Make an Effective Google Ads Campaign
1. Begin with a solid understanding of the Product data
It’s likely that many of you are already familiar with Google’s Product Data Feed requirements, which are all stated in their thorough breakdown of Specifications.
Before your Google Shopping campaigns can begin delivering advertisements, Google will examine your feed and product data to ensure that they meet their requirements. However, this is a well-established and standardized system.
The foundation of an improved Google Shopping experience is optimized product data.
You should put more emphasis on the title and description of the products.
How does Google determine whether a shopper’s search query corresponds to a particular product? It’s really all about the Product Title, with a little help from the Description to make it all come together. The goal is to be as descriptive as possible yet making it as basic and straightforward as possible.
Consider how you would buy online if you were in your own shoes. How would you go about looking for that one pair of sneakers you can’t seem to get enough of?
Consumers may view product images in Google Shopping, which is similar to window shopping at the mall, but with a far greater emphasis on competition comparison. High-quality product pictures are a critical best practice to follow when using Google Shopping, and they should be taken into consideration.
There is, however, more to it than that. Sometimes it’s all about how a product is presented to the customer. Take, for instance, the clothing industry as an example. Do you find a garment on its own or do you have a model wearing it? Do you have a single shirt on show or a whole bunch? Do you wear a simple tee or one with designs on it while you display?
When it comes to pictures, there is a particular psychology that surrounds conversion rate optimization.
2. Create a DIY-friendly structure to maximize efficiency
We are ardent believers in the technique of Google Shopping campaign structure that we have come to refer to as the “Pure ID-level” methodology.
What you end up with is a Shopping campaign in which each product is treated as a stand-alone line item on its own page. Although creating this campaign structure in AdWords might be a bit challenging, it provides for the most detailed degree of granularity possible.
In contrast, if you are in charge of administering your campaigns on your own, you may still take use of ID-level structures like to Pure form, which can be much easier to handle in a “do it yourself” fashion.
3. Let Google do some of the heavy lifting!
In the first stages of creating a Google Shopping campaign, you are invited to choose an initial structure for a particular ad group. At that point, you have the option of allowing Google to provide you with a pre-determined breakdown, such as by Brand.
Some of the additional legwork you would have to perform if you had begun with All Products and no subdivision would be significantly reduced as a result of doing so.If you choose Brand (as many merchants do), you can then take each unique Brand Product Group and further split it down to the ID-level for additional analysis.
Now that each Brand has been further subdivided by ID, you will have complete control over each individual product ad and the bid connected with it.At the same time, you have a streamlined method of managing smaller subgroups of products, which can be addressed one-by-one as you go through your normal campaign management cycles.
What you haven’t lost is the level of detail that is essential for maximizing your chances of success. Typically, initiatives that are too organized or that are not properly segmented see a steady decline in almost all key performance indicators (KPIs).
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and AdWords Filters
The ability to set your key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential when trying to improve your Google Shopping campaigns from the start, as well as when working on continuing efforts.
Once you’ve determined which metrics are the most important indications of your specific performance, you can utilize AdWords Filters to uncover trends in both poorly performing and well-performing product categories.
5. Employ Device Bid Modifiers to your advantage
In this case, if you’re just getting started, there may not be any necessity to go out of the way with a whopping +X percent on each eligible device for Google Shopping right now (Computer, Mobile, Tablet).
However, if you have historical data to support your decision-making, Bid Modification is an excellent method of optimizing your Google Shopping campaigns.
Increases and decreases to bids may be made in AdWords for a variety of reasons, including geographical targeting and ad scheduling, and you can see the results immediately.
If you had to start somewhere, though, you may as well start with your Google Shopping campaigns’ Device Bid Modifiers, which are a type of bid modifier.
Please keep in mind that, for best results, we recommend utilizing at least 30 days, if not 90 days, of previous performance data if you have it. If you have more, by all means, put it to good use. To apply device bid modifiers:
- Begin by going to the Campaigns Tab in AdWords.
- Locate and choose the Segment option from the drop down menu.
- Devices can be found in the drop-down menu.
It should be noted that you may also obtain segmentation down to the ad group level if you so choose. For beginners, however, it is recommended that you start at the campaign level.
Data for your selected AdWords fields for each of the three device types will begin to fill once you have segmented.
6. Use a negative keyword strategy
The use of negative keywords in shopping campaigns is still important, even if they do not operate on the same basis as their cousins Text Ads and Display.
You may use negative keywords to ensure that your advertisements don’t show for expensive or irrelevant search phrases in your advertising campaigns. Assuring that you have a comprehensive list of negative keywords may save you a significant amount of money in lost clicks, as well as enhance the performance of your advertising efforts.
The issue that retailers frequently ask, though, is: “How can I locate the best Negative Keywords?”. You can do it with some common sense if you have experience in search ads or you could use any of the keyword tools available in the market.
7. Top performers may be identified by using Dimension Reports
In addition to being one of our most popular Google Shopping optimization strategies, this strategy is also one that is still relatively fresh to the world of Shopping campaign optimization.
Adwords Dimensions work in a similar way to Segments in that they offer deeper layers of performance information for campaigns, similar to how Segments work.Geographical coordinates and time-related data are examples of such details to consider.The Dimensions page, in particular, is a genuine goldmine of incomparably important information for those who are shopping.
Searching for top-performing products (IDs) and using that information to improve your whole retail marketing strategy is one of the most effective uses of Adwords Dimensions in Google Shopping. You can use it as follows:
- Dimensions may be seen in AdWords under the Campaigns tab.
- Shopping may be selected from the View drop-down menu.
- Item ID can be found in the following dropdown menu:
- It will display performance stats for specific IDs in your campaign when you use this filtered view (s). By using the appropriate columns and a little bit of sorting, you can get a list of just Product Ads that convert.
- If you use these IDs in conjunction with some simple modification of Shopping Campaign Priority Levels, you may create a complete Top Performers campaign.
- Excel or Notepad may be used to create a list of the best-performing IDs.
- Create a new Google Shopping campaign to promote your products and services.
- Ad group subdivisions can be selected from All Products.
- Using the ‘+’ icon, expand the Subdivision menu.
- Bulk add values manually can be selected from the drop-down menu.
- Copy and paste your IDs into the appropriate fields.
- Add new values by clicking on the plus sign (+).
- Save your work to complete it.
The Bottom Line
There are many other optimization tips but I have only included some of the best ones. Just like many other fields, this also gets better as you acquire experience in it.