Google Brings PLAs To Third-Party Sites Like Walmart.com

Today, Google announced it is extending its popular product listing ads (PLAs) to retail and e-commerce sites across the Google Search Network.

The ads are served via a new Google product called AdSense for Shopping, which offers retail and e-commerce sites another way to monetize site traffic while expanding the reach of advertisers’ PLAs. It also should give Google a stronger foothold in product search if enough sites are enticed to join the network.

Walmart.com is among the limited set of publishers currently participating in AdSense for Shopping. Here’s how the ads look, appearing along the left-hand rail for a search on <tailgating grills>. The retailer explains the sponsored ad program is powered by Google AdWords.

The ads will look familiar to those who have participated in Amazon’s product ads program, which also drives traffic directly to retailers sites. Amazon is reportedly working on its own AdWords competitor that could displace Google’s ads on Amazon.com by the end of the year.

Shopping campaigns in AdWords are automatically opted-in to search partners in AdWords. If you segment your Shopping campaigns by Network today, you’ll likely see small amounts of traffic already generated from search partners.

Similar to search partners for text ads, Google does not provide granular reporting on which sites drive traffic or conversions and does not offer advertisers the ability to control which sites their ads appear on.