Today, Google is making public what several speakers at SMX East alluded to last week: local availability for Product Listing Ads. The latest iteration of Google’s wildly successful Product Listing Ads, which will be referred to simply “Local PLAs” in this article, are currently available to a select set of US based retailers such as […]
Today, Adobe announced it’s first to market with support for Bing Product Ads. Very similar to Google Product Listing Ads, Bing Product pull from merchant’s product feeds to show product images, prices and other details on search results pages. According to the Adobe release, Adobe Media Optimizer can now support the following functions for Bing […]
CPC Strategy’s latest Shopping Comparison Engine report shows Google’s grip on the market only tightened in Q2. Across performance metrics, Google PLAs (product listing ads) continue to outperform other CSEs by wide margins. For example, in Q1, Shopping.com, Pricegrabber and Amazon Product Ads all drove roughly half the traffic of Google PLAs. In Q2, the […]
Advertisers have flocked to Google AdWords Product Listing Ads (PLAs) since Google Shopping transitioned to a paid model last fall. A new study by AdGooroo estimates more than 4 billion PLAs were displayed in the U.S. from March to May 2013, accounting for 5.9% (71.7 billion) of the total of ad impressions in that period. But […]
This is important for all merchants running Google product listing ads to note, but the timing makes it particularly key for advertisers running back-to-school or summer blow-out promotions. As we previously reported, Google announced new specifications for Google Shopping product feeds. The key change was the addition of the unique product identifier (UPI) for custom […]
Eagle eyes over at RKG spotted a new AdWords test that gives even more real estate to Google’s successful Product Listing Ads. In a screenshot captured by RKG on July 15th and posted by paid search analyst, Nick Bremenstul, an expansion arrow displays below the typical display of five PLAs. Upon clicking the expansion arrow, the […]
Covario reports overall pay-per-click (PPC) spend accelerated, rising 22 percent from Q1 and 23 percent year-over-year. Mobile PPC spending outpaced overall growth, increasing 39 percent from Q1 and 132 percent year-over-year. Mobile accounted for 16 percent of global search spend. Smartphones claimed 40 percent of the mobile spend allocations, tablets 60 percent. Smartphone CPCs remained […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Experiments With Social Search By Adding New Bing Boards To Search Results Bing announced today that they are adding a new social element to their search results with the introduction […]
The PPC world is abuzz over the news that Google opened its beta for image extensions, which allow AdWords advertisers to include images with their text ads. In these very early days, PPC managers that have had campaigns in the beta are in experimental mode, while others are eager to get their accounts into the […]
On June 11th, Google Shopping will complete the global transition to the pay-for-play model that was introduced in the U.S. last fall. Advertisers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic will need to run Product Listing Ads to promote their products on Google Shopping. […]
Perhaps in response to reports that Yahoo is unhappy with its search deal with Microsoft and looking for a way out, David Pann, GM, Microsoft Advertising Search Group, has written a post on the Bing Ads blog ahead of “state of the state” meetings with clients in Europe that aims to reassure advertisers that the relationship is sound and the […]
AdWords product extensions will soon be heading off into the sunset. They are leaving quietly, too. Brad Geddes noticed the announcement in the AdWords agency newsletter, but no other formal notification has been communicated to advertisers. Product extensions will disappear from the campaign set-up flow on May 20th. Google eventually let product extensions be outrun […]
Up Close With Product Listing Ads Presentations from SMX West, March 2013 Think understanding quality score for ads is challenging? With Google’s introduction of Product Listing Ads (PLAs) the success of your ad is now even more complicated. Beyond optimizing your CPC bids based on keyword, match type, device, time of day, day of week […]
The momentum of Google’s PLA program didn’t slow after the holidays. After seeing Google Product Listing Ad traffic jump 82% in Q1 over Q4, CPC Strategy followed up its latest quarterly review of top CSEs with a closer look. The agency hadn’t been surprised to see the 87% increase in PLA traffic in Q4 over […]
Are those sweet efficiencies early adopters of AdWords product listing ads saw in their holiday numbers coming to an end? Well, CPCs are rising, but ROI is still solid. RKG’s Q1 Digital Marketing Report finds that as more merchants come on board, product listing ad CPCs are now just 10% lower than comparable text ads. […]
Today Bing Ads announced on its Developer blog that they plan to roll out Product Ads in the U.S. sometime early this summer. The ad unit follows AdWords Product Listing Ads format with thumbnail image, merchant information, price and optional promotional text included in the ad. Bing says they are testing the Product Ads format […]
The new IgnitionOne Digital Marketing Report for Q1 finds that overall paid search spend in the U.S. was flat for the quarter, while mobile and tablet growth remained strong. Tablet spending rose 112% and smartphone spending jumped 113%. The study suggests that the growth in tablet and mobile is coming from a reallocation from existing […]
We may have seen the end of CPC stagnation. Covario’s Global Paid Search Spend Analysis for Q1, released today, suggests that the cost-per-click trends of the last six quarters have reversed with CPC prices rising 7% from the previous quarter and 23% year-over-year. Overall paid search spend grew 9% quarter-over-quarter and 33% year-over-year. The following […]
Google has announced on its Commerce blog that product listing ads (PLAs) are now showing on smartphones in all markets that currently serve PLAs. To be eligble to run on smartphones, product listing ad campaigns must be upgraded to enhanced. Below are two screenshots of how the ads are appearing:
Marketers outside the U.S. have continued to enjoy free shopping traffic from Google, despite the search giant’s big change to convert all results to paid listing ads in its home country. But that’s beginning to change for folks in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland and the Czech […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: 6 Advanced Strategies For Optimizing PLA Campaigns In January, Marin Software released a study on Google’s 2012 transition from Google Product Search to the commercial, “pay-to-play” model built on Product Listing […]
Google has acquired retail feed management provider Channel Intelligence (not to be confused with Channel Advisor) for $125 million. The company counts major brands and retailers among its clients. Channel Intelligence (CI) offers a range of services built around data management and product feed optimization. It lists Target, Philips, HP, Neiman Marcus and Best Buy […]
The Google Shopping gamble paid off – for both Google and e-commerce advertisers who ran product listing ad campaigns last quarter. A report from Adobe and a study by RKG each highlighted consumer interest and advertiser opportunity in Google product listing ads. Today, Marin Software released findings showing that, after the transition of Google Shopping […]
The Search Agency has released its “State of Paid Search Report” for Q4 2012. It follows similar reports from Marin Software, IgnitionOne, RKG and Kenshoo and contains a range of data based on US client campaigns. Overall The Search Agency observed that paid search is experiencing a “healthy growth rate.” Impressions, CPCs and paid clicks all […]
Where are the bargains in paid search these days? According to an analysis of the fourth quarter in paid search, Adobe determined that both tablet targeting and product listing ads represent great opportunities for marketers, where there’s a substantial gap between cost-per-click (CPC) and conversion rate. Adobe came to its conclusions after looking at paid […]
Advertiser spending on paid search rose 18% in 2012 according to Covario’s Global Search Advertising Spend Analysis, which tracks paid search spending in more than 45 countries. That growth trend is down just slightly from the 21% annual increase Covario reported for 2011. In Q4 Google commanded 86.5% of global paid search spend and a […]
After last month’s major change to Google Shopping, making the service solely pay-for-play, the company is exploring ways for affiliates to participate via Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in the US. Google Shopping has been testing ways of working with affiliates for nearly six months in alpha and is now opening up the beta to additional […]
The holiday shopping season has always been the most profitable time of the year for online retailers. Search, display, social and mobile have shown tremendous growth year over year and continue to be vital programs for acquiring more revenue during the holidays. Online marketers going into the 2012 holiday season should have a plan for […]
As the crucial holiday etailing season approaches, Google is pulling out all the stops to get merchants on board to the new pay-for-play Google Shopping. Today, the company announced that it will switch to all paid listings as of October 17. Previously, Google product results were fueled by product feeds provided by merchants, at no […]
Google’s decision to eliminate free product listings in favor of paid Product Listing Ads (PLAs) for Google Shopping has reverberated through the ecommerce world. One consequence: online marketplace Etsy has decided to pay for its U.S. sellers’ products to be listed in PLAs through the rest of the year. The ecommerce company, known for facilitating […]
Microsoft has been fast-following Google AdWords with new features in adCenter recently, so it’s not a huge surprise that some have spotted what look like Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in Bing Results. Mark Ballard from Rimm Kaufmann Group (RKG’s) posted of seeing such listings and, while we haven’t been able to replicate this, we did […]
Paid search’s growth rate slowed a bit in the second quarter of 2012, but it still increased 29% year-over-year — down from a 32% year-over-year growth rate in Q1. That’s according to the RimmKaufman Group’s latest report on digital marketing, released this week. Generally speaking, CPC’s were down (6%) as compared to the same period […]
It’s time again to update your AdWords Editor desktop software. Google today released version 9.8.1 which will now let users add and edit dynamic search ads and product listing ads. Each of these ad formats now has its own tab, and these types of ads can now be managed on two new targeting tabs. The […]
The “simpler and more beautiful” Google makeover is coming to AdWords. The company is previewing the new look to users and asking for feedback before implementing it. The most significant change to functionality is the introduction of “campaign types” — depending on the type of campaign it is, you will see different options. The idea […]
A few days after Google upended the ecommerce marketing world with the announcement of upcoming changes to what will now be called Google Shopping, many retailers and marketers we spoke with are positive about the switch, though there are definitely some serious concerns. You’d think taking a product from free to paid would cause an […]
Google has posted a reminder that the updates to the Google Product search feeds is just around the corner. If you do not update your product feeds with the new guidelines by September 22nd, Google may suspend your account. Google said: As we announced in July, the new Google Product Search Feed Specification and Policies […]
The Google Merchant Blog announced “important changes to Google Product Search feed specification & policies.” These changes go into affect September 22, 2011 and if you are not compliant, you will find your products missing from Google Product Search. To see the changes, you can go to this document and select the country that you […]
AdWords advertisers have long had the ability to use negative keywords to limit the situations when their ads will display, and now product listing ads — rolled out in November — will have this feature, too. Google announced the new targeting capability, saying it’s the first of more extensive targeting features that it is working […]
Google has famously undertaken a high-profile initiative to show users where they can buy products offline in local stores. It has also launched a very non-traditional (for Google) shopping site, Boutiques.com. There have been additional improvements in the Google Product Search destination site, including more product-browse capabilities. Then there are product listing ads, which expanded […]
Google announced they are expanding the product ads within the AdWords listing that they have been testing for a while. Google said, in the U.S., searchers should see them more frequently. It is however still a beta but Google will continue to expand it over time. Here are the key features: Pay only for results: […]