If you are an E-commerce business,
Google Shopping Campaigns,
can be a great way to connect with consumers and promote your products online.
If you’re thinking about investing in Google shopping campaigns or if you’ve already set them up, there are a few pitfalls you should be aware of and actively avoid.
Not Utilizing Priority Settings Correctly
Here’s the lowdown on priority settings: if you set one of your campaigns on high and another on low, no matter what the bids are, the high priority campaign will always override the low one if both can be displayed for the same search query. If, and only if, the campaigns share the same priority level will the bid become a determining factor.
Let’s walk through these scenarios using an example of a surf shop that wants to run both a general shopping campaign focused on the store’s entire product feed and another campaign focused on bidding up the product category of flip flops for summer.
Scenario 1: General Campaign: Bid $1: Priority High | Flip Flop Campaign: Bid $2: Priority Low
Scenario 2: General Campaign: Bid $1: Priority Low | Flip Flop Campaign: Bid $2: Priority Low
In scenario 1 , your flip flop campaign won’t appear for searchers because of its low priority status. In scenario 2, the flip flop campaign would win with its higher bid.
Take advantage of these priority settings when promoting your top sellers or products that fluctuate in popularity throughout the year. This will place the most relevant products in front of interested buyers, maximizing your conversion potential.
Not Setting Your Exclusions
Unlike AdWords search campaigns, which are keyword based, Google shopping campaigns are all about exclusions. By default, shopping campaigns target everything in your shopping feed that matches a search query. Ultimately, Google will only display products that it feels best match a user’s search query.
You still have the opportunity to optimize campaigns by focusing on the promotion of various parts of your product feed, such as a specific brand or product. You can do this by bidding up certain product categories and excluding others.
Not Segmenting and Organizing Your Product Groups
When using Google shopping campaigns, Google will first group all of your products into one main product group called “All Products.” You then have the ability to set a bid for this product group. To optimize your shopping campaigns, however, you’ll want to break down this group into smaller groups, segmented by category, brand, product, item ID, etc. Then you can set individual bid prices for these smaller product groups based on item popularity. This will help your campaign become more targeted and boost your overall return.
Though many aspects of Google shopping campaigns can seem overwhelming, just take it one step at a time. Start small as you get a feel for this channel, and make adjustments to your strategy along the way. Don’t be afraid to play around with product groups and bid prices while keeping a close eye on its impact—shopping campaigns, when used correctly, have the power to catapult your brand in front of the rights eyes at the right time, maximizing your online revenue.
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