Best Practices to Optimize Google Shopping Campaigns

• 1. Google Shopping campaign structure
• 2. Using the GTIN
• 3. Optimization of product names
• 4. Optimize color attributes
• 5. Selecting the right image
• 6. Using regular expressions with data feeds
• 7. Sales and promotions

Online advertising is an essential tool for any online store. Google Shopping accounts for 65% of all clicks on Google Ads.

Product feed is the basis of the Google Shopping promotion strategy. If the feed is formed incorrectly, ads may not pass moderation or be very costly. For example, a user searched for an orange Ikea wardrobe, but red dressers were also shown on the query. And all because the color and name were incorrect. So what to do?

Here are some tips for working with Google Shopping that will definitely work for you.

1. Google Shopping campaign structure

First of all, let’s look at the structure. The structure of a campaign depends on how different campaigns are organized. How many campaigns there are in total, which products are included in which, how many ad groups there are, etc. It is in the improvement of the campaign structure that the best ad optimization lies. A good campaign structure allows you to bid on the products and search queries that are most valuable. Let’s take a look at the 4 most common campaign structures.

Structure 1 — one undivided campaign

There is one campaign with one ad group and one product group that contains all products. In fact, this means that every product and every search query is equally valuable to the business, as no one distinguishes between them.
In this case, the only thing you can do to optimize is to raise the maximum CPC for all products.

Structure 2 — one campaign with several product groups

You can divide products into different groups based on certain attributes:

Fig. 1 — Distribution of the all products group by attributes

Google Shopping allows you to divide product groups based on:

• categories;
• brand;
• product identifier;
• condition (new, used);
• product type;
• channel;
• channel exclusivity;
• one of 5 special tags.

For example, you can first categorize all products based on product type, then by brand, and at the third level by product ID.

This campaign structure allows you to set bids based on category, brand, or individual product level (item ID).

If you’re not satisfied with the default attributes for campaign splits, you can use custom tags to add additional information to your feed (such as price or margin data). This allows you to set higher bids for more expensive products with higher margins, while keeping bids lower for less profitable products.

Structure 3 — several campaigns with different products

Create a campaign based on attributes. Go to the settings of the newly created campaign and use the assortment filter to include only a part of the products.

Fig. 2 — Setting up a Google Shopping campaign

This means that you can have separate Google Shopping campaigns based on brand, product type, or category. It is also advisable to use a special label to create a campaign that contains only the top products.

The biggest advantage of multiple campaigns is that you can set a separate budget for each campaign. This means that you can allocate 80% of your budget to bestsellers and 20% to other products. If they are all mixed in one campaign, it is harder to control the budget.

Structure 4 — multiple campaigns with the same products

Having multiple campaigns with the same products allows you to target each campaign to a specific set of search queries.

The biggest advantage of this setup is that you can set different maximum CPCs depending on how valuable the search query is. The most common use case for this is to separate branded search queries from general search queries. This way, you can set higher bids on branded search queries while drastically reducing the maximum CPCs in the overall search campaign. This is a great alternative approach.

Fig. 3 — Brand and search campaigns (example from the Internet)

The example above shows 2 campaigns for the same brand, one targeting branded search queries and the other targeting general queries.

Look at the difference between CTR and CPC. If you intended to achieve the same result with a single campaign, the overall profitability would be much lower because the average CPC would be much higher.

Important: If you are using this campaign structure, make sure that the campaign priority settings are correct.

2. Using the GTIN

GTIN is a global product unit number.

Valid GTIN numbers are usually provided by the manufacturer, and although they are no longer a mandatory attribute, it is worth paying attention to them.

Benefits of GTIN:

• the information about the advertised product is correct, so the information of competitors will not contradict yours;
• increase in ad impressions;
• prevents counterfeits from entering the market;
• users can compare products.

Cases when the GTIN number is not available for adding to the feed:

• you are the only seller of the product (for example, you embroider shirts by hand);
• if your product is vintage or antique;
• if you sell manufacturer’s spare parts;
• if you sell books published before ISBNs became mandatory (1970).

Therefore, if the feed is set up correctly, it is your ad that can lead to the purchase of a product when comparing products.

Fig. 4 — Reseller announcements on request for Koss BT740iQZ

Google uses the GTIN to retrieve data from the supplier’s catalog and place your ad in an auction with other resellers of the same product.

3. Optimization of product names

Optimizing product names is the key to making ads relevant to users’ search queries.

How to optimize product names:

Fig. 5 — Header structuring guide from datafeedwatch.com

It will be effective to include key queries in the title of the ad. Therefore, it is better to place important information at the beginning of the title, because if the title is shortened on the SERP, the important information will be displayed first.

Scheduling regular updates to your account will prevent discrepancies, warnings, and account suspension if any changes are made to your feed.

4. Optimize color attributes

It’s more efficient to respond to a user’s color request right away: the consumer knows exactly what color of product they’re looking for, so meet their needs and provide these options.

Fig. 6 — Product color selection option

In some countries, color is a mandatory attribute for clothing and accessories:

• Brazil;
• France;
• Germany;
• Japan;
• United Kingdom;
• USA.

Avoid mismatches. Advertisers will receive rejection of ads from Merchant Center due to mismatched landing page information. Google scans the data on landing pages and matches the color attribute in the feed with the color value on the landing page. So don’t change the colors.

Tips:

• Write the full name of the color (and for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, experts recommend including one character), and it is also advisable not to use number substitutions (for example, HTML colors).
• You can add 1 primary and 2 secondary colors to a product.
• If the product is made of precious metal, combine the material attribute with the color attribute (for example, silver earrings or a gold ring.

5. Вибір правильного зображення

Product images are the first thing customers see when they view an ad. Therefore, the images must look good.

Tips for optimizing images:

• use high quality images (not pixelated, where the product can be clearly seen);
• make sure the attributes match the image (color, size, material, etc.);
• pay attention to watermarks on images – they should not be present.

If your product attributes do not match the image, the user will see this on request:

Fig. 7 – Search results of a yellow anta backpack on request

Irrelevant search results will repel potential customers, and sales will be unlikely. After all, if a consumer is looking for a yellow backpack, why would they want a black one with a yellow clasp?

By the way, we found the following study on advertising for clothing and accessories stores: 82% of respondents said that they would be more likely to click on a Google Shopping ad first if the ad contained an image of a person wearing the product rather than the product itself. So keep in mind.

6. Using regular expressions with data feeds

A regular expression, or RegEx, is a sequence of characters that defines a search pattern that is used to match patterns to strings or to match strings, which is a similar operation to find and replace.

The feature is useful for optimizing data feeds, as it allows you to map many characters using only one line.

How to use regular expressions:

• find and replace repeated words;
• correct several sizes at once;
• remove too many spaces between words, and more.

For example, if the title contains additional spaces between words, not just at the beginning and end, the regular expression can match the additional spaces between words: replace_pattern ( \s, ‘ ‘, [title] ). This way, you can optimize the work with the product feed.

7. Sales and promotions

Consumers love sales and promotions. Special offers usually lead to an increase in sales. How can you use this when optimizing your Google Shopping ads?

For example, we have an online store for accessories and:

• on Cyber Monday, we decided to organize a 25% discount sale of belts;
• to track the sales of these belts, we created a promo code BELT25 and will use it in ads;
• create the promote_id attribute and fill in the promo code with only those belts that we intend to sell;
• go to your Google Merchant Center account and create a promotion on the promotions tab (if the promotions tab is not visible, fill out the promotions form);
• enter your conditions for the code to be triggered (start and end time of the promotion, specific products that fall under the promotion, promotional code).

The customized promotion can be used for 3-4 months without updating. This is convenient if the store offers free shipping on a regular basis or holds a long-term sale of certain products.

Fig. 8 — An example of setting up a promotion for a campaign (example from the Internet)

Product Feed for Google Ads:

If you have multiple promotions, and they change frequently, try using the Google Promotions Feed to upload promotions to Google Merchant Center.

A Google Ads product feed is a spreadsheet (TXT file, .xml file, or Google Sheets) that contains all ads and related data.

Attributes to include in the feed:

• advertising_identifier;
• product applicability;
• offer_type;
• long_title;
• effective date of the promotion;
• redemption_channel.

Please note that equity feeds are not available in all countries:

Fig. 9 – Countries for setting up promotions

So, by applying the tactics described in this article, you will definitely improve your Google Shopping results and get ahead of the competition. But that’s not all. To stay competitive, you need to regularly monitor and optimize your settings.

Google regularly makes changes to the Google Shopping platform. So stay tuned for updates and get an edge over your competitors.