For those retailers who have used Google product search are now biding for placement with Google’s new Google Shopping, a program where retailers are adjusting to a new paid model.
“The Google Shopping market is very immature, right now the traffic is pretty cheap,” said Rick Backus, CEO of CPC Strategy during the session “Searching for Success with the New Google Shopping” at the Internet Retailer conference in Chicago with Darren Baldwin, E-Commerce Manager for Dungarees.
“We all went through a bit of grief when Google decided to charge for traffic,” said Backus. “I think for most retailers who have tried the program, there are opportunities to drive pretty qualified traffic.”
Backus offered some tips on how to compete with the new Google Shopping model:
Get a data feed person: the truth is you have to use the data feed, you have to use the data in the data feed, make sure you know what is being sent to the merchant center, Backus said. If you don’t have the ability to manipulate a data feed, you have bigger problems than Google shopping. Figure out how to get the feed.
Learn How to Bid Properly: Set all the product bids low and then bid up toward the ad groups, check out your campaigns, all the bidding you are doing in the ad groups are completely pointless.
Increase Product Visibility: Send your top 100 best sellers, send Google the message that these products are related. Having your products in an “All Products” category is not the right way to do it.
“We typically recommend 10-20 ad groups, you can set ad groups by brand,” Backus said. “Try to have less than 500 products and start with those, and you will start to see significant trends,” Backus said.
Use Labels: You can literally have a label within the data feed, you can call them whatever you want, the key is to use labels.
Discover Your Search Terms: It is pretty important to know the keywords to differentiate the negative keywords.
“Your bid plays a significant role, you need to know your competition, the only thing under your control is that feed, said Backus.
Baldwin said Google stands to practically double as the highest comparison shopping network. He added merchants are better off with using new product listing ads, and there is better ROI than regular Adwords.
Baldwin reported that Google Shopping orders for Dungarees in 2013 saw 500 paid listings, a significant jump from 150 orders in 2012.
“It was definitely worth that 42 cents cost per click,” he said.
Adwords in 2012 saw 100 paid listings and in 2013 only 150 for the company.
“It is actually a revenue stream and not just taking away from other bidding you are doing,” said Baldwin. “We have seen such improvement on this.”