What are Google Product Listing Ads?

Product Listing Ads appear in a separate box in the search results (highlighted below) and feature attention-grabbing product images as well as the product’s price and retailer’s name.

What are the Benefits of Product Listing Ads?

Increased Ad Space

As you will see from the “Bosch dishwasher” search results below, Google permits advertisers (Currys in this case) to appear in the Product Listing Ads in addition to the standard text ad results. This means that your ad “real estate” for a single search could potentially double with the implementation of Product Listing Ads.

More traffic

Product Listing Ads are often highly relevant to the user’s search query, which combined with the eye-catching nature of image-based ads means advertisers tend to report higher click-through rates for this ad format.

Attract relevant searchers

The design of the Product Listing Ads, which feature the product’s price as well as the retailer’s name, are very sales driven and are arguably less likely to attract searchers in the “research” phase of the sales cycle. Conversely, users ready to commit to purchasing will be attracted to the Product Listing Ads, which are reminiscent of the way products are often displayed on eCommerce websites. This means that advertisers are likely to attract more qualified potential customers to their website.

Lower CPC s and higher conversion rates

Our personal experience in using Product Listing Ads, as well as those reported by other advertisers, is that cost-per-clicks (CPCs) on Product Listing Ads are lower and conversion rates are higher than those on Google’s standard text ads.

How do I set up Product Listing Ads?

Setting up Product Listing Ads requires a Google Merchant Centre account and Merchant feed which adheres to Google’s specifications and requirements. Unlike the standard text ads displayed on Google’s search network, Product Listing Ads don't use keywords; advertisers use attributes in their Merchant feed to tell Google which products they would like to target. Like the standard text ads that display on the Google search network, Product Listing Ads operate on an auction-based cost-per-click basis.

If you are a competitively priced e-commerce retailer then there is no reason to ignore Product Listing Ads as part of your online marketing mix. Get in touch if you would like to know how we can help you set up a Product Listing Ads campaign.