Google Product Listing Ads have been around quite a while, having rolled out to all US advertisers in 2011.
Since then, we’ve seen incredible growth of the format, which accounted for 43 percent of all retailers’ Google search ad clicks and 70 percent of non-brand clicks in Q1, according to my company’s latest Q1 Digital Marketing Report (registration required).
The vast majority of advertisers spend most of their time optimizing for non-brand search, since brand searches are typically navigational in nature for non-manufacturers and are mostly the product of other marketing efforts that drive brand awareness and demand.
As such, the game has changed for e-commerce advertisers, from one in which optimizing keyword lists, along with the ad copy and bids tied to them, came first and foremost, to one in which even managing keywords perfectly may only get an advertiser 30 percent of the non-brand pie.
The feed-driven ad model is here to stay, and many advertisers must shift focus away from text ads to optimize for those ad units driving the most growth.
Let’s take a look at some of the recent drivers of PLA traffic growth for advertisers, and wrap up with some of the key areas of account management that e-commerce advertisers must focus on given the growing importance of Google Shopping.
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