Google Testing “Value Alert” Notice In Google Shopping Ads

Google has another test running on product listing ads, this time one that highlights “value” products.

Spotted by Elizabeth Marsten at CommerceHub on Thursday, the test displays a “Value alert” message at the bottom of the ad. What’s interesting is that the ad from the DermStore does not have the lowest product price among the ads shown. The ad shown from Raya Skin Care has by far the lowest price at $25.00. Rather it may be that Google is testing a new way of showing items that are on sale or significantly discounted.

A look at the product page on DermStore.com does show sale prices on that brand (there is not a Vitaphenol serum listed on the site, though, and it’s not clear which product is showing in the search results). The “Value alert” message may only trigger based on the size of the discount; the Vitapehenol products on sale are currently discounted by 52 percent. It’s also not clear if the advertisers’ TrustedStores status has anything to do with inclusion in the test.

The experiment does appear to be very limited at this point. I haven’t been able to get it to trigger, and Marsten says she wasn’t able to get it to display again in subsequent searches.

Google declined to offer details when we asked about it, but we’ll update here if we learn anything more.