Online shopping, it’s an activity we all partake in almost every time we visit the world wide web.
If you’re anything like me, when you are looking online for a product, you will usually shop and conduct your search across a variety of brands and websites right such as Amazon, eBay and so much to find the best possible price or review right?
Well just like Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping is also responsible for the UK having the third largest e-commerce market in the world as 87% of UK retail purchases are made online. Inside this article, our Knutsford web agency will introduce you to Google Shopping, why more smaller businesses are using Google Shopping to compete with national brands and how you can add your own products….
Ready? Let’s get started with our Google Shopping Small Business Guide
What is Google Shopping?
Google Shopping is a service that allows users to search, compare and shop for products that are listed from a variety of different retailers and marketplaces who pay to advertise their products on Google.
Also known as Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE), Google Shopping results will display within a user’s search query as a thumbnail image and will also display a product description, the retailer who is selling the product and a price. Originally known as ‘Froogle’, Google Shopping was initially released in 2002 but later rebranded and integrated in Google Ads in 2012.
Why you should use Google Shopping?
In simple terms, it works! If you are a small business who sells products and are looking to put some money into digital marketing, I would certainly consider Google Shopping as an alternative to Google Ads and here’s three reasons why;
#1 High Quality Leads – If you are anything like me, you will conduct your own research based on reviews, prices etc… before you make an online purchase. Well Google Shopping helps eliminate research because all Google Shopping listings can be filtered based on location, price, seller and much more. This means when a user lands on your product page, they will be a high-quality lead because they have searched for your specific product, meaning a higher chance of a conversation and reduction in bounce rate.
#2 Much Broader Reach – If you are a small local business who specialises in a selection of niche products, sometimes you simply cannot complete with the national chains. For example, if a user searches for ‘grey wardrobes’ on Google, changes are you will very likely not appear anywhere near page 1. However, in Google Shopping, if you are offering the same product but at a cheaper price, users can filter this meaning they will find your product meaning you could potentially have a much broader reach by advertising with Google Shopping.
#3 Better Return on Investment – Did you know Google Shopping is proven to have 30% higher conversion rates that text ads? If you are still not convinced, Google Shopping also allows your product listing show up multiple times within Google, so it can appear as a website result, text-only Google Ad and a Google Shopping result which means a better return on investment.
Much like Google Ads, each time a user clicks on your Google Shopping listing you will only pay once they click through to your product/landing page. However, because you are targeting users who are searching for a particular product, chances are you are much more likely to convert the user into a customer meaning a better return on investment.
How to add your products on Google Shopping
As a fundamental requirement, I will highly advise you have a functional e-commerce website or system where all products have their own individual pages as you will need to import the data.
#1 Serving as the central hub for all your products which you will later use in Google Ads, you will need to register and set up a Google Merchant account.
#2 Next, you will need to your product data feed. This will be a spreadsheet containing all the information Google Shopping will need to know about your products so it can offer as much information as possible to users when searching.
Below is a brief list of some product attributes that Google will use to create your Google Shopping listing.
ID: unique product ID number
Title: The name of your product
Description: Description of your product
Link: URL of your landing/product page
Image Link: The URL of your main product image page that will appear in Google
Availability: If your product is seasonal or in stock, you can add availability
Price: The price of your product
Brand: The products brand name which users will recognise
MPN: The products manufacturing part number
#3 Create a Shopping campaign in Ads and start advertising your products with a Shopping campaign. Our Knutsford web design agency are Google Ads certified so can help create and assist with all shopping campaign
#4 Target and schedule your campaigns. Do not be afraid to mix things up and experiment with different images, product descriptions and even prices.
Knutsford Web Agency Opinion
Speaking as a professional Knutsford Web Agency, if you are looking to spend some money in digital marketing, I would certainly consider Google Shopping first. In a text-heavy environment, Google Shopping offers an alternative way to visually advertise your products in an environment where small businesses can compete with everybody which ultimately drive high quality leads, a much broader reach and better return on your investment.
If you would like to discuss Google Products or would like some assistance in creating your Google Product accounts, please do not hesitate to contact your Knutsford web agency