Shopping killed the search results bar

… AND BROKE YOUR HEART

This bubble had to burst at some point, but the Shopping machine just kept turning. As more advertisers joined up, costs per click (CPCs) were inevitably pushed up but the uptake just kept increasing as the reach of the PLAs grew with more ad slots. While Shopping remained profitable, the extra ad slots began to eat into the space occupied by search ads; position four could be relegated to the area previously occupied by position seven. We have seen one large fashion e-tailer’s YoY increase in average CPC for standard search campaigns go up from 13 per cent to 24 per cent due to the added competition. For an SME advertiser unable to produce a decent feed, this could be catastrophic.

PUT THE BLAME ON PLA

But how did Google facilitate such growth? A variety of tactics have been used in the last couple of years. Anyone remember when product listing campaigns had average position data? This little feature was quietly taken away, causing advertisers to increase their bids blind and inflating the average CPC quickly.

Then, in a seemingly contradictory move, Google last year brought in impression share metrics for shopping campaigns. However, the result was the same; this time it was the data junkies that increased their bids by identifying any area of potential with lost impression share. Everything from shopping campaign transition to Merchant Promotions has been extremely well planned by Google to ensure a massive uptake in Shopping.

REWRITTEN BY MACHINE AND NEW TECHNOLOGY

Gone are the early days of ‘set up a PLA campaign in minutes and watch the money roll in’.

Shopping advertisers are now as acutely aware as those in standard search of the need to gain an edge on competitors. And yet, it’s also unfamiliar territory for a lot of marketers.

It is widely accepted now that to have a successful shopping campaign, you’ll first need a well optimised product feed. But this has previously been the realm of developers, and without the technology to optimise, you are going to get left behind. Similarly, product description optimisation has a lot more of an SEO feel to it than PPC.

Click has invested in feed optimisation technology to stay competitive. Furthermore, our close-knit teams allow for ample knowledge share across the SEO and PPC departments to adapt our best practice.

YOU WERE THE FIRST ONE; WON’T BE THE LAST ONE

So, is this the end of the Shopping saga? Far from it, we guess. Bing PLAs have been going in the USA for a couple of years now and seem close to making the jump across the pond. Couple this with the introduction of new ‘click-to-buy’ ads and the implications of a cost per acquisition (CPA) bidding model to complement this, and it seems the Shopping story has only just begun.

Besides what has already been announced, we predict it won’t be long before we have an official Quality Score for shopping campaigns. This will tie in nicely with feed optimisation emerging as such an important area, and should mean that any changes made to the feed will result in highly tangible improvements to average CPC.

We would also expect shopping campaigns to expand to be tailored around different sectors. Feed specifications are already different for apparel products. It’s not a big jump to imagine hotel PLAs that have two images – one for a map of the area, and another for inside a room; while the feed also pulls in customer reviews as part of the ad. Another example would be for industries using Google My Business. Under the search ‘electrician’ you’ll now generally find around seven business listings. Bringing these under a paid model, possibly with a ‘Get a Quote’ button if one of their outlets is located near to the searcher, would present some exciting opportunities to keep advertisers on their toes.

Dave Karellen, Head of Paid Search, Click Consult

Tel: 0845 366 7586

Email: hello@click.co.uk

Web: www.click.co.uk

Twitter: @ClickConsultLtd