It’s undeniable that successful Google Shopping campaigns can yield impressive results. However, with more more and more advertisers embracing Google Shopping, coupled with Google’s push to display more shopping ads above the festive season, achieving prominence amidst the competition can be challenging. To help you stand out and boost your product advertising this holiday season, here are six strategies to enhance your Google Shopping campaigns and drive both visibility and returns. High-performing Google Shopping campaigns require effort. Get your free guide to Google Shopping now and start increasing your sales today!

Improve Underperforming Products

A strong well optimized product feed forms the bedrock of impactful Google Shopping campaigns. The holiday season presents an excellent opportunity to maximize the value of less popular products and clear out inventory. Ensure your product titles are packed with as much detail as possible within the 150-character constraint. Include the product name, brand, gender, size, and color. This practice is beneficial for businesses across various sectors, from apparel to DIY and furniture. {Brand} {Product Name} {Gender} {Size} {Colour} The same principle applies to product descriptions. Within the 500-character limit, incorporate all pertinent keywords and relevant product information. When selling branded items, anticipate stiff competition. Therefore, craft descriptions that spotlight the product’s unique selling points. For instance, if you’re selling a winter coat, highlight its features: Is it waterproof? Lightweight? Can it withstand specific temperatures? Details are key.

Thorough keyword research is paramount when refining product titles and descriptions. You’ll notice that customers deeper in the sales funnel use more specific search terms, including colors and sizes. By using detailed, keyword-rich titles and descriptions, you increase the likelihood of your ads appearing to shoppers at various stages of the purchasing journey. Don’t limit yourself to AdWords Keyword Planner. Explore other keyword research instruments like Ahrefs and SEMrush. Even the search terms data within your Google Search Console account can offer valuable insights.

Stay Ahead of Feed Issues & Disapprovals

While disapproved items in your feed clearly impact revenue, products with incomplete information (indicated by blue and yellow flags in Google Merchant Center) not only suffer from reduced visibility but also lose their competitive edge. To simplify the identification and resolution of feed problems, GMC provides a summary of affected products and allows you to download an itemized CSV file.

Find a synopsis of all product errors and disapprovals in GMC under Products and Diagnostics. If numerous products lack crucial attributes like ‘brand’ or ‘google product category,’ consider setting up Feed Rules in GMC. This feature automatically populates missing fields, either with a fixed value or dynamically based on predefined rules, providing a swift solution.

To configure Feed Rules, go to Products in GMC, choose Feed, and then select Feed Rules. RELATED: 8 Critical PPC Pitfalls to Avoid During the Holiday Season

Outshine Competitors with Exceptional Product Images

Using high-quality, relevant product images not only minimizes feed disapprovals but also significantly improves your products’ visibility and click-through rates. For clothing, utilize quality images at 250 x 250px, and for non-clothing items, aim for 100 x 100px. Eliminate any superimposed promotional text or markings that obstruct the product view. Think beyond standard manufacturer images. Showcase the product in context or from various angles. This helps your product stand out, especially in search results dominated by branded items.

Utilize Custom Labels for Enhanced Budget Control & Reporting

Many AdWords shopping campaigns are structured as a single campaign with one ad group containing numerous product groups. This approach severely limits your bidding strategy and reporting capabilities.

Custom labels allow you to categorize products based on criteria beyond standard feed attributes like brand or product type. This enables you to create structure your Google Shopping campaigns for greater budget control. A common use of custom labels is to identify top-selling products. When high-performing items are grouped with less popular ones in a single campaign, budget limitations can prevent aggressive bidding on bestsellers, hindering their visibility, inflating the CPA of lower-priority items, and distorting reporting metrics. Creating a separate campaign for bestsellers allows you to allocate a dedicated budget and implement a tailored bidding strategy, maximizing the visibility of products poised for high returns. It also enables you to set a campaign priority if a product is featured in multiple campaigns, such as brand-specific and bestseller campaigns. Popularity isn’t the only factor. Custom labels can segment products by:

• Price range
• Profit margin
• Holiday sale items
• Stock levels
• Seasonality

Elevate Your Presence with Product Ratings

In competitive product search environments, it’s crucial to leverage every tool to make your ads pop. Combine descriptive titles, compelling product images, and product ratings to capture shoppers’ attention.

Why prioritize product ratings?

• They provide positive reassurance during the buyer’s decision-making process.
• They differentiate your ads from competitors lacking seller ratings.
• They contribute to a higher Quality Score, resulting in better visibility and lower CPCs. Unlike seller ratings displayed next to text ads, product rating stars appear when you have at least 3 reviews for a product and a minimum of 50 reviews across your entire product catalog. To activate product ratings, submit Google’s Product Ratings Interest Form. They will contact you after reviewing the provided information. If you already utilize a third-party review platform like Feefo or Trustpilot, obtaining product ratings becomes even more straightforward.

Reconnect with Familiar Audiences Using Remarketing Lists

Similar to search ads, remarketing lists (RLSAs) for your shopping campaigns are a valuable tool for shopping campaigns. This allows you to adjust bids based on previous visitor interactions, such as shopping cart abandoners, returning visitors, and past customers. Remarketing lists for shopping ads can significantly enhance your campaigns by enabling more aggressive bids for audiences already acquainted with your brand and products. This translates to improved click-through and conversion rates, and generally lower CPCs, contributing to a reduced CPA.

What Google Shopping strategies do you employ during the holidays?