Google Adds Shopping Campaigns Features, Says Regular PLA Campaigns To Sunset In August 2014

Google introduced Shopping campaigns to all advertisers running Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in February as a way to simplify PLA set up and management. Today, Google announced some new features that have been rolling out in response to advertiser feedback, and they laid out the succession plan for Shopping campaigns to take over legacy PLA […]

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Google introduced Shopping campaigns to all advertisers running Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in February as a way to simplify PLA set up and management. Today, Google announced some new features that have been rolling out in response to advertiser feedback, and they laid out the succession plan for Shopping campaigns to take over legacy PLA campaigns.

Probably the most requested change is the addition of multiple ad groups. When Shopping campaigns debuted, campaigns consisted of just one ad group, which many advertisers found limiting. Retailers can now set up multiple ad groups within a Shopping campaign.

A bid simulator is now available to help advertisers gauge the impact of bid changes on impressions, clicks and spend.

Google Shopping Campaigns Bid SimulatorGoogle also said it will be adding options to the set up process for Shopping campaigns. The changes center around being able to use an existing PLA campaign to create similar product targets, negative keywords and promotional text.

Which leads to the final announcement of the day: Old PLA campaigns will indeed be sunsetted. Legacy PLA campaigns will automatically be transitioned to Shopping Campaigns at some point in late August of this year.

That gives advertiser another five months to get their Shopping campaigns up and optimized before the plug is pulled on their existing PLA campaigns.


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About the author

Ginny Marvin
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Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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