AdWords PLAs Product Listing Ads- Intro

Product Listing Ads (PLAs) by Google Adwords are cost per click (CPC) ads. Do not feel intimidated by PLAs. Consider them a tool to be played like game of strategy against your opponent, ie your competition. PLAs are only one type of Adwords ad. (The other is the text ad). PLAs stand out because, unlike text ads, PLAs feature a product image and highlight individual products or product groupings, ie Google's  product taxonomy / categories (not keyword). 

Setting up involves having both a 1) Google Shopping account (via the merchant center) and 2) an Adwords account.

Uses & Benefits

• Google advertising is significant in terms of how many potential customers it reaches. Specifically, it physically covers the vast majority of the screen of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and reaches a large number of potential customers who are already at the buying intent stage of your sales funnel. In many cases, the Google ad gives shoppers enough information (image, color, price) to make buying decisions even before clicking your ad. The ads are unmistakably, un-pretentiously an advertisement which translates into (as much as 30%) higher conversion rates over otherwise ambiguous ads or links.

Google PLAs / Product Listing Ads as seen by a US-based person doing a basic Google search for 'winter coat'. The PLAs appear on top of the page as the most prominent result. With a heading "Shop for ... on Google", they are clearly advertisements with no pretense. Consequently, people clicking your ads are less likely to cost you money by thinking that they will be lead to something else like information about winter coats.  

Google helps to send only people through the right sales funnel. For instance, Google detects when someone's search is for information versus a buying opportunity. In response, Google responds with appropriate SERPs.

• As you can see from the example above, Google PLAs allow you to present solutions to millions of people who are actively seeking those solutions. Ads can even target specific groups. For instance, the SERPs above appear for only US-based customers. Non-US shoppers in tropical Thailand using the same 'winter coat' search term will not see the advertisements because they are not the target market. Below, their SERPs show what the target market, ie US customers, sees only after scrolling down the page below the PLAs. In other words, you get to set all of these preferences.

You can do marketing with control. For instance, you control the ad details (ad type, audience demographic, re-targeting / re-marketing, lookalike audience targeting, broadcast location, dates and so on), you can track your expenses for each ad.

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• Since Google relies on AdWords for the majority of its revenue, it is designed to help your potential leads find you
• If you are new to keywords, PLAs are useful because you do not need to devote much time doing keyword research because Google decides which customer search terms will trigger the display of your PLAs on SERPs
• There is a Google support team of people that are contactable via toll free numbers
• Google PLAs contribute favorably to the profit margin. For instance, Google records highest conversion rates among paid shopping channels as well as the lowest cost of sale. (Pay per click (PPC) which is cost effective because you pay only when your leads actually click through your ads).

DOs

• Remain aligned with your lead's stage within the sales funnel. Your ad should match your lead's stage within the sales funnel. Examples. 

• If someone's non-commercial TOFU search relates to learning basic information and benefits (like 'What are the benefits of product X?', 'What is product X?'), the landing page should have pre-sale content that is non-commercial and informational and NOT product pages. For instance, pre-sale content discusses 'How product X is a solution for situation A'

• If someone's search is middle of the funnel, they make product comparisons, cost-benefit analyses, your responding landing page should be MOFU. Although informational and non-commercial, the landing page should give less general information than the TOFU landing page. You may even display some product reviews by previous customers.

• Use negative keywords as a means of segmenting high vs low ROI keyword. This segmentation allows you to specify which terms should or should not trigger PLAs. Remember that you need not master keywords for PLAs. However, types of keyword are still noteworthy as they relate to how much you should spend. Broad terms like 'coats' or even 'winter coats' do not suggest very strong buying intent. We do not know what type of (winter) coats the person is searching for, whether the coat applies to women's, children, plus-sized individuals, up-scale and so on. Conversely, longtail keywords like 'BrandX women's winter coats with featureX' do and therefore have higher conversion rates. Consequently, spend higher amounts on longtail keywords. In other words, even if the average is $1 for a generic term, bid less, let's say $0.50 because we already know these generic terms convert poorly giving a relatively low ROI. So invest less in them. Conversely, spend $1.50, ie above the average for the long tailed keyword. To segment generic vs longtail. 
• Note the keywords that your target market uses as the basis for your campaigns
• Copy and paste the product listing ad / PLA campaign so you have 2 identical campaigns, the second of which you will differentiate
• In the 1st campaign (for long tail keywords called something like 'branded campaign'), use negative terms to block generic keywords from triggering PLAs. Types of negative terms include broad, phrases and or negative exact terms. Examples include 'coat', 'coats', 'winter coat', 'winter coats' (negative broad); "winter coat" (negative phrases); [winter coat](negative exact).

     

Negative phrases. Ticks mean that your PLAs will appear for the search term. Negative broad phrases are therefore the  most exclusive.

• Set a high bid for the 1st campaign
• In the 2nd campaign (for generic keywords, called something like 'Generic campaign'), list negative phrases that suggest high buying intent (like 'brandnameX', 'SKU_123') to block the long tailed keywords from triggering PLAs. 
• Set a low bid for the 2nd campaign
• If you have a limited budget and are starting out with a new project, target buyers who already have buying intent. This approach ensures faster profit. For ideas on how to do this, consult the note above regarding negative search keywords.

• Simultaneously use as many advertising methods as possible to cover space on the SERPs and, in turn, remove the competition and increase the chance of attracting leads.

• text ads
• PLAs
• SEO / organize links 

Place long tailed keywords inside of product titles and descriptions. Optimizing these elements improves your conversion rate because they improve the specificity of your listings and therefore make it easier for Google to match you with someone searching for the solution you offer. Do not copy details from manufacturers in a mindless fashion. Research whether the SKU appears in your target market's search terms for clues as to whether it should be included in titles and descriptions. After all, remember that all of your earliest characters are important to search engines. 

• If you are new to PLAs, start with Google (over Facebook) since Google PLAs is easier. For instance, Google click through cases are usually based on keen interest, even buying intent. Conversely, Facebook click through cases are often more costly because the click through was accidental and interruptive of users' social activities like looking at friends' photos. Since PLAs provide a clear display of their nature by showing product images and prices, they are potentially cheaper because they deter accidental clicks from people who lack buying intent.
• Keep your product feed updated to reflect your latest changes to details like pricing, stock levels and so on. This is important to maintain favor with Google. After all, Google earns revenue from providing shoppers with a good experience and would mark you down if you advertise one price in the ad but another on your website. Your lead is likely to bounce quickly to a noticeable extent. 
• Know the attributes required for the product feed. See the summary of attribute requirements. See a small sample view of the guide immediately below. Essentially, this guide helps to know the fields to be completed and the permitted attributes for each field.

Note that you should even enter data for new products whose codes (like the GTIN and or MPN) are not yet established by using the otherwise optional field 'identifier_exists'. Since the default (when you opt to not show this field) always implies 'yes', you will need to set it at 'no' because you do not have an identifier.

Consider your industry and the fields that apply. For instance, more heavy duty, industrial products require the product weight field while lighter products do not. In short, spend time going through the list of fields beforehand.

There are several other optional fields that generally help you to organize your ad campaigns. They help you to recognize product segments to be turned on and off at the appropriate time. For instance, you can add as many as 5 label fields from 'custom_label_0' to 'custom_label_4' to help you run ads for specific segments like 0) gift ideas for 1) Christmas and 0) gift ideas for 1) wedding registry and so on as pictured below. 

Manual Product Feed in MS Excel. Manually creating your product feed is acceptable and often preferable if you have a handful of products whose details (price, title, description and so on) never change. However, it is very time consuming and may be replaced by automatic methods like Shopify's free 'Google Shopping' app. You can download this app to your store from within Shopify's app store. The app connects with Google Merchant Center, automatically syncs your store and all or some of its products and or collections with Google Merchant center.

You may omit some fields like 'tax' if all products have the same setting. In such cases, your settings for this field will be completed at the account level settings. However, if such a general rule does not apply, enter this field to override the general rule. 

• Re-target leads through Google Adwords RLSA / Re-targeting Lists for Search Ads. Google allows you to re-target visitors who bounce and continue with comparison shopping, in other words, they have strong buying intent. You can target such interested people specially by serving them special advertisements after they leave your website. 

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RLSA often involves serving that market with coupons and tweaked ads that say something like 'returning visitors get _% off'. (Facebook also has a re-targeting pixel that you may consider later when you have already mastered Google RLSA.)

• Do not limit yourself. Use Bing also. Although Google enjoys a large market share, Bing can account for as much as 30% of searches. To ignore Bing would be like leaving money on the table. In fact, Bing's PLAs use precisely the same format to the extent that Bing even allows you to import your product feed directly from your Google account.
• Do not overextend yourself with many traffic sources. Do not try to jump onto every band wagon you hear about for getting traffic. Focus on truly mastering PLAs before considering other forms of traffic from Facebook and other forms of social media. In fact, some traffic sources are even detrimental. Thoughtfully consider the suitability of other approaches for your particular market.
• Geo-target. Some niches are seasonal. For instance, air-conditioning is not in high demand during winter months in the northern US. In such cases, turn off the PLAs during the cold winter period just for those non-applicable northern states.

If you ever wanted to hire Adwords professionals, consider Google-certified professionals.

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