Tag: Google AdWords

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More Tidbits on Google Merchant Data Feeds

Continuing from Monday, here are some more great tidbits about promoting your Data feed on Google.com by using the new required Google AdWords tie-in.

  1. Google recommends a separate AdWords campaign for Product Listing Ads (PLA).
  2. Create an ad group per product target to be able to create unique promotions easily.
  3. Make sure to create one all products ad groups for best practices as recommended by Google.
  4. You will be able to select Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost per Acquisition (CPA) bidding for your program. Make sure you are selecting the one that best meets your needs.
  5. To use CPA bidding you must first be white listed and be advertising in the US.
  6. Set the bid lower on your all products target ad group than your targeted ad groups. In fact this may be the only ad group some retailers may need.
  7. When you tie in your Product Data Feed with Google AdWords you may have photos appear with your ad text or your products and photos may appear with other retailers in the organic results.
  8. Google will preferentially show the PLA with the highest cost per click in your account.

You can watch the full video on this topic on YouTube.

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Tidbits on Creating Your Google Shopping Data Feed

I’ve recently been at a seminar for Google Shopping and wanted to share some great tidbits that I have gleaned from the seminar.

First it is important to know that the pictures of products that can appear in the organic search results on Google.com are driven by a data feed you create and install in the Google Merchant Center. Previously this service was free, but by October 1, 2012 only only those data feeds that are tied to Google AdWords will be shown.

  1. You create and install your data feed as an .xml or .csv file in the Google Merchant Center to get started.
  2. The settings area in the Google Merchant Center is where you will link your Google AdWords account. Once you have set up an account, you very simply just input your AdWords 10 digit account number to link your feed to AdWords for payment.
  3. The most typical errors are image URL errors. Make sure that you have a link to a 400 pixel by 400 pixel image and a 250 by 250 pixel image in your data feed.
  4. You MUST list either the GTIN or MPN for your feed to go live.
  5. Know that your description in your data feed will be used for your ad text. So make it descriptive yet selling.
  6. Your title for each product can have a maximum of 69 characters. Your description can have a maximum of 500 to 1,000 characters. Remember this includes spaces.
  7. Do not put promotional verbiage in your product description like free shipping. You will be adding promotional text in Google AdWords for your specific feed’s promotional message.
  8. Do not use all capitals in any words such as THIS as AdWords does not allow block capitals.
  9. Make sure to add the new AdWords attributes to your feed to allow more targeting of your promotional needs now that your program must be tied to AdWords.
  10. Carefully review the required Google category attributes as there are as many as 32 or so that are required now.

Check back Wednesday for more great tidbits. You can watch the full seminar on YouTube for additional information.

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Tips on the AdWords Display Ad Builder

Here are some tips to consider when using the Google AdWords Display Ad Builder to help set up image ads for your Google AdWords Display Network targeted campaign.

  1. Expect a much higher click through rate (CTR) with ads created using images in the Display Network than with regular text ads.
  2. The Display Ad Builder will make all sizes of your ads for you automatically. But make sure to click each ad size and resize as needed or move around the content blocks by dragging them so the text looks “right” for each size ad.
  3. Consider using the suggested ads that AdWords creates for you to get started in under 10 minutes.
  4. You cannot change the ad text in each ad size so choose short phrases that work for your product or service.
  5. You can add additional images of products or your logos to certain templates. Browse around in the tool to find the one that suits your specific needs best.
  6. Once your program is running a .05% (yes that is right) is considered a great click through rate by Google.

I do like the Display Ad Builder. It allows me to set up good looking display ads pretty quickly. This is especially important where we want to test the program we are running in the Search Network to see if it has viability in the Display Network.

If you are looking for savvy personalized help with Google AdWords, make sure to find out more about our company and services.

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Tidbits on Using Remarketing Advertising in Google AdWords

Here are some interesting factoids about content remarketing using Google AdWords I have gleaned from a recent Google AdWords sponsored seminar you may not know.

  1. Did you know that 96% of your website visitors leave your website without completing the action you desire (converting)?
  2. 70% of all e-commerce shoppers abandon your website shopping cart.
  3. Remarketing allows for you to tap this hidden market to expose your message again to try to keep your name in front of interested potential customers.

Remarketing is pretty easy to set up. Here’s how you do it:

  • You insert code on key pages of your website
  • the customer visits these key pages and a cookie is set on their computer
  • you set up a remarketing campaign in Google AdWords defining criteria of when to show your ads
  • as these visitors travel the web they see your AdWords ads on any page in the Google Network they visit.

Cool – but make sure you set up frequency capping in your remarketing campaign settings so you are not giving the appearance that you are spamming your visitors. Also make sure you set the cookie set length. You want to keep your name in front of potential customers for a short time (30 days or less) after they have visited your website but not “stalk” them around the web and make them mad.