Google Shopping has been around for a very long time. It’s quickly developed into the number one tool for retailers looking to advertise products online.
The premise behind it is pretty easy to understand as well. You sign up to the Merchant Center provided by Google, and then link your account with AdWords.
Now, you should be in a position where your products will appear in Google search results for everyone to see, complete with a nice image and price tag as well.
Of course, as with everything, the more people that utilize this platform, the harder it’s going to be to sell your products.
A Google Shopping report released last year discovered that retailers spent over half of their Adwords budget on Shopping ads only.
Not only that, but Google Shopping ads resulted in a whopping 16.1% of e-commerce sales throughout 2016.
While we haven’t seen more recent numbers, the prediction is that both of these numbers are on the rise.
So, what does this mean for retailers looking to sell things online and advertise via Google Shopping? Well, it means you’re working in a very competitive place, so you better know how to sell your products as effectively as possible.
In this article, you will see some of the most impressive hacks and tips you can use to start selling more products using Google Shopping.
Learn How To Write Good Product Titles
When you use Google Shopping, there’s a thing called a PLA (Product Listing Ad) which is essentially the advertisement for your product. It depicts the image, price, and title of that product.
Arguably the easiest way to ensure you get more clicks and drive more sales is by learning how to write good and effective product titles.
After all, this is the main thing people will look at when they see your advertisement, and it definitely goes a long way to determining whether or not they click on yours ahead of someone else’s.
There are various things to consider with regards to product titles. For one, you need to show an accurate title for that product.
If you’re selling a specific product from a certain brand, then you have to make sure you get the name of it exactly right.
A good example of this is someone that’s advertising a Sony PS4. Make sure you clearly state what type of PS4 you’re selling; is it a PS4 Pro, the original version, or a slim? These little details make all the difference.
However, perhaps the biggest thing is learning how to format each title. When you sell big name brands, make sure the brand name always comes first, followed by the product name, and then the product attribute.
In the green rectangle above, you can see a good example of using the brand in title, however the ad in red has not used the brand.
If the brand isn’t widely recognized, then start off with the product title, the attribute, and then the brand. So, going back to the earlier example, it’s a well-known brand, which means you’d put the title as; Sony PS4 Pro Games Console.
Create An Effective Landing Page
When people do click on your advertisement, it’s easy to assume that’s a job well done. However, them clicking on it doesn’t always mean they end up buying it.
Search Engine Land conducted research that proves this as they found only 34% of people purchased the product they clicked on when they clicked on a Google Shopping advert.
The key to improving that figure is ensuring you have a good landing pages for your products.
A landing page plays such a critical role as it’s almost the step between someone clicking on your ad and someone making a purchase.
If you get it right, they’ll be adding your product to their shopping cart right away. Naturally, the best landing pages are relevant to the PLA.
If you’ve advertised a certain product, the user should be met with that product.
However, it’s argued that you shouldn’t be too specific on your landing pages. Don’t just take them to the product page, so they see that product and nothing else.
The more effective option is bringing them to a landing page that displays the product they’re looking for but also shows other products in the same category.
Sure, make the advertised product the focus of their attention, but also offer similar items that might interest them. This boosts your chances of making a sale via your Google Shopping ad.
Pick Your Best Products
If you really want to sell your products on Google Shopping, then you need to do a little bit of research into your sales figures. Take a look at your data and see which products are getting more attention than others. It makes more sense to focus your advertising resources on products you know people are buying, rather than trying to sell ones that aren’t.
There are many things to consider here, and one is which products sell well during which times of the year. A product that sells well during the Autumn/Winter might sell poorly in the Spring/Summer.
We see this kind of thing all the time with fashion retail, as there’s seasonal clothing out there. You should be able to see which products sell better than others by looking at your site statistics. It’s also possible to go on Google Shopping and see your best sellers there as well.
When you know which products are performing the best, then you can start focusing more resources and money on them.
It should lead to much better investment returns when using Google Shopping. Yes, it can be tempting to try and boost sales figures of low-performing items by advertising them. However, it can often be a waste of money as these products obviously don’t perform well for a reason.
People just aren’t interested, so draw in their attention with products that you know perform well!
Get Customers To Review Items
If you take a look at Google Shopping search results, you’ll see that some listings come with star ratings underneath the product. This shows consumers how well reviewed the item is, and it helps them deem whether or not it’s worth buying it or not.
What’s more, if the same product has mixed reviews from two different sellers, then it tells the consumer which seller is possibly more trustworthy or not. As such, when you have positive reviews in Google Shopping, it can help drive more clicks and influence sales.
On the other hand, negative or non-existent ones can make you stand out in a bad way, and decrease your sales chances.
So, what should you know about Google Shopping reviews? To start, they will only be displayed if you have over 50 reviews across all your products and at least 3 for each one. To add to this, the reviews can be taken from the product page on your website, third-party review sites, or Google Customer Reviews.
Therefore, you should make an active effort to encourage customers to review your products and your business when they make a purchase. Perhaps offer incentives like a discount code when they leave a review, and so on.
Naturally, you need to ensure these reviews are positive! The only way to do this is by providing an excellent customer service that no one can really complain about.
Do this, and the reviews will flood in, allowing you to display a nice star rating and boost your Google Shopping conversion.
Make Sure The Product Picture Is Perfect
Displaying the right product picture will make a huge difference in how people view your Google Shopping listing. So many businesses will simply upload a generic picture of the product that everyone uses to advertise it.
That’s not to say this is a bad thing but is it the most effective way of ensuring your products stand out and get clicked on? Probably not.
Instead, you could see better results if you invest in high-quality product photography. Get your product pictures taken by professionals so you can show them off differently to others.
Showing a coat on an actual model will automatically lead to more clicks if everyone else is advertising the same coat on a plain white background with no-one wearing it.
Notice above how the models actually wearing the coats look much more appealing to attract clicks then the coats on a plain background on a hanger.
It all comes down to consumers being a bit wary about buying products when they see the same generic advertising image.
It’s easy to just pull that image from anywhere online, so how can they be sure that your product will actually match that picture? When you display high-quality photos of the actual product, it helps them believe the product is real and genuine.
There’s less anxiety, leading to more chance of a click.
Conclusion
Google Shopping can be the most effective way of increasing sales through your online retail website. Shopping results are normally displayed before any other paid advertisements or organic results.
So, if you use the advice above, you will help improve your Google Shopping performance and drive sales through the roof!
About the Author:
Paul Granger is a content writer, AdWords specialist and SEO consultant at WebsitePromoter, a site that helps small businesses and website owners with advice on SEO and PPC advertising. Follow Paul on LinkedIn.
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