Google Shopping Tips

Does your online webstore offer Google Shopping? As it is starting to dominate online retail marketing in New Zealand. As the need for a dynamic online presence transitions from a nice-to-have to a must-have, consumers have had to adapt to the way they research, evaluate and buy goods and services online. So let’s take a look at what Google Shopping actually is and how it works in favor for many.

What is Google Shopping?

In its simplest context, Google Shopping works in conjunction with Google Ads and Google Merchant Center producing SEO-configured search results. It’s a highly-ranked ecommerce tool that should be part of any marketing strategy for businesses selling both virtual and tangible products.

Goods can be segmented into pricing, brands and even best-seller type campaigns to maximise your return on advertising costs – it really is digital marketing at its best for online retailers! It’s a well-developed platform that’s easy to use and, in a sense, basic to manage.

The best part of a service like this is that potential customers are able to view a retailer’s products and price at the top of Google’s search results pages (SERPs), before even viewing the website. This benefits both buyers and sellers as the eye-catching images at the top of the SERPs saves the consumer time of extensive price and product comparison.

How does Google Shopping work?

Google Shopping only works with ecommerce websites built on platforms such as Shopify®, Shopify® Plus, WooCommerce, Magento® and BigCommerce®. Google Shopping uses both Google Ads and Google Merchant Center to generate search results of a retailers’ products. Google Merchant Center stores product details as a Google-friendly format to assist with search accuracy. Google Ads is a platform where your actual campaigns can be managed including budget, bidding, and performance analysis. The setup and management of Google Shopping ads isn’t as straightforward as regular text ads, with emphasis placed on the content on your website landing pages and bids rather than keywords.

Note: a well-written, SEO-friendly ecommerce website will ensure Google Shopping works most effectively for you, as it uses title and product information from your website to generate the most accurate results and ultimately drive people to your site.

Tips to maximise the potential of Google Shopping

Depending on the nature of your business and how it operates, getting the most out of your SEO optimisation and Google Shopping strategies could prove to be very beneficial, though quite complex. However, there are a few ways to simplify without compromising profitability. Let’s look at a few points below:

1. Product information – Your website content needs to be very product-specific for Google Shopping to do its job. Ensure your product titles and products information is directly and strategically connected. Some keywords rank and convert far better than others making keyword research a critical component for any campaign. Another point to remember is that Google Shopping displays only an image, the price, a short title and the retailer – meaning you’ve got a lot to convey within a tight representation, so make it count!
2. Remember what people are ‘searching for’ not ‘looking for’ – If what you’re selling isn’t your own, (i.e. from a manufacturer) your clientele are more likely going to be searching for the product’s name, not necessarily your specific business. It’s important to optimise title information to reflect this.
3. Selling your brand – Even though you may want your business to be known as ‘the place to buy it’, you’ll still require product information optimised with key search terms. Adapting to this may entail an overhaul on webpage content to enhance Google Shopping results.
4. Make it unique – Content duplication quickly becomes problematic among ecommerce sites. Just like a lousy SEO strategy, Google Shopping works the same way and may backfire as a result of content repetition. Also, be sure to use key features and attributes, using the entire character limit for Google Shopping product descriptions.

So if you’re not at all involved with Google Shopping and Google Merchant Center, or perhaps you’ve just scratched the surface with a basic campaign, then you are going to truly miss out from the Christmas season splurge. Allow yourself to hold the competitors edge and start maximising that sales potential with an optimised Google Shopping strategy today!

For more information on how to leverage Google Shopping to ramp up your online sales this Christmas, freephone 021 344 050, click here to contact us online or learn more about Google Shopping on our Google Shopping training course.

FAQs