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How to Optimize Google Shopping Ads

Joe Balestrino • December 5, 2020

Improve Your Google Shopping Ads Performance

Google Shopping ads were initially a component of Google Ads but are now a standalone product. Google Shopping is exclusive to advertisers selling tangible merchandise, downloadable product or media online. For e-commerce clients, traffic from shopping ads has a higher probability of converting as compared to conventional text ads, which make them very cost-effective. Providing you manage your shopping ads properly. However, just like with other types of ads, you have to optimize Google Shopping ads. If you have been asking


Optimize Product Titles


Product titles are probably one of the most important aspects to optimize for your Google Shopping ads. Taking all aspects into consideration, product titles contribute to approximately 80% of your ranking.


The reason for this is that unlike text ads, you will not be bidding on keywords with these types of ads. Instead, you will include keywords in your product titles, which is what Google Shopping works with. Nonetheless, a product title needs to be both natural and descriptive such that it makes it easy for clients to understand what your product is.


How to optimize your Google Shopping product titles?

  • Character Limit: Google only allows 150 characters though the algorithm tends to truncate any titles longer than 70 characters. You should ensure that your titles are no longer than 70 characters.
  • Front Load Key Terms: It is not recommended to keyword stuff though you should include your most important keywords as close as possible to the 70 character limit allowed.
  • Be Natural: Do not just stuff keywords in an effort to target everything as this would seem unnatural. When writing titles you should be writing for people rather than for the algorithm. Research businesses in the niche to find how they are writing their ads.
  • Be Descriptive but Contrite: It is critical to include the name of your product but the search engines and shoppers may need other things. For instance, you may include things such as gender, size, color or promotions.


Automated bidding for Google shopping

Automated bidding is one of the most effective campaign strategies particularly if you are running several campaigns at the same time. This makes it possible for the machine learning algorithms to learn and test your ads and be able to set the best bids that fit your marketing objectives.


With automated bidding, you can let the algorithm do the bidding for you and also use real-time trends and changes to optimize your bids towards the achievement of your business goals.


Google provides a range of automated bidding options when you are doing Google Shopping ads which include maximize clicks, enhanced PPC, Target ROAS, and rule-based bidding. For a more comprehensive look check them out here.


▶️ Maximize Clicks – The algorithm automatically sets bids so that your ads can get as many clicks as they can within the target ad spend you set. This will make it possible to be within your target ad spend even as you increase clicks to low traffic products.

▶️ Enhanced CPC – The algorithm will adjust your manual bids to improve the probability of a click resulting in conversions. In doing so, it will enhance conversions while allowing you to control your bids.

▶️ Target ROAS – The algorithm will automatically set your bid to optimize conversion value while achieving a targeted return on ad spend (ROAS).


Rule-based Bidding


You need to remember that no matter how good automated strategies are, it is not prudent to automate all your ad strategies. A hybrid approach that includes human bidding strategies combined with automated strategies is always preferred. Some of the best rule-based strategies to adopt are:


▶️ Bid Increase rules

▶️ Pull back on wasted ad spend

▶️ Reduce bids on unprofitable terms

▶️ Bump products with zero impressions


One of the biggest benefits of adopting rule-based bidding strategies is that it allows you to set thresholds. Through strategies such as threshold bidding, you can customize rules according to trends, ROI, impressions, and conversions which means you can make changes to your ads at scale.

Optimize product images - Apart from the title, the image is one of the most important aspects of optimizing Google Shopping ads. For the person looking for a product on the search engine, it is just like window shopping at the mall through the comparison and competition are on another level.


If you want to be successful with Google Shopping ads, you need to have high-quality images. However, it is not all about the image as sometimes it has more to do with how it is displayed. You may have to try out different layouts to find the most optimal. Some important things to keep in mind with images are:

  • Use white backgrounds
  • Use high-resolution images
  • Use title and ALT tags in the image file
  • Do not use manufacturer/stock images
  • Use angles that bring out the product’s best attributes

Add Negative Keywords


Even though Google Shopping ads do not depend on keywords as much as Display or Text Ads, you still need to optimize by removing negative keywords. Optimizing by reducing negative keywords ensure that you do not appear for irrelevant or expensive terms, which may not provide a good ROI or may plain waste clicks.


The Search Terms report should be your first stop when you are looking to optimize your ads. It shows all the search queries users were using before they were presented with ads they clicked to get to your site.


▶️ Irrelevant Search Queries – Sort out your queries by impressions to get a list of all keywords you do not want your ads to be shown for. This may include color variations you do not sell, wrong size of clothes or any other irrelevant attribute.


▶️ Competitor Search Queries – These re product searches that involved competitor brand names combined with product name.

In the example above, the e-commerce seller sells consumer electronics and competes with the likes of Target, Amazon, and Walmart. Remove all such keywords.


▶️ Very Generic Search Queries – While you cannot pick the keyword to advertise for on Google Shopping ads you can remove those you do not want. You can not look at keywords per product. You can only see all of the keywords that show up in your campaign.


⬅️ In this example, the keyword is not irrelevant but it is just a very broad category description that would likely just wasted clicks. A user searching using such is likely to be in the mood for browsing different microphones rather than buy a particular one.


Use Promotion Codes


One of the most effective ways to stand out with shopping ads is by using promotions. If you have existing promotions include them in your ads as they tend to trigger people buying habits resulting in higher click-through rates at lower costs.


For instance, if you are running a promotion of your t-shirts at 30%  off for the Spring Sale, you can create a promotion code of SAVE30 on your website and include that on the shopping ad.


The first thing to do is to make an attribute call promotion id into which you can add the t-shirts that are on sale under the SAVE30 promo code. Once you are done with that go to your Merchant Center Account and navigate to promotion to create your ads. Some promotions you can include in the Product listing in Google Shopping Include


1. Free Shipping

2. Brand specifies rebates

3. Tiered percentage discounts such as 10% off for orders greater than 50

4. Buy One Get One or Buy One get the next at 70% off

5. Lowering the Free shipping threshold

In order to bid on individual products, you need to break out each product. If you keep the feed as it is, your bid will be the same for all products. You won’t be able to bid on or pause individual products that perform poorly.


In order to get the most out of your shopping campaigns, it is important that you maintain it on a regular basis. Increase bids when you need to, add negative keywords and pause products if they don’t perform. 


Select all products and click the pencil. You can then see a list of all your products. Click on product ID and select all then click save. You will now be able to bid and pause all the individual products with your feed.


Not every product will be a successful product. Knowing when to pause a poor performing will save you a ton of money. Hopefully, this article has taught you how to optimize Google shopping ads. If you still need help contact me.

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