What is shopping feed optimisation?

Shopping feed optimisation is simply making sure your ads have the best chance of being shown to users when they’re most ready to buy.

It’s not actually simple – but you can get better at it, especially with the support of a PPC consultant who understands your business goals.

Google uses the info in your product feed to determine what ads to display, where and when.

So if you’re not optimised, you’re underusing your data and likely missing out on sales.

Get the shopping optimisation basics right

Unless you’ve only got a handful of products, you may need the help of some feed optimisation software.

Inputting thousands of products manually is unrealistic and your PPC agency partner will recommend a solution to suit your needs.

This will pull relevant info from your site into your Google Merchant account, where you can then optimise the more obvious things, like:

• Titles

Your product title has a bearing on which searches your products will appear in, so include relevant terms.

Keyword research will uncover which may add relevance even if they’re not in your original product description.

For example, including supplementary contextual info – ‘Christmas party dress’ as opposed to ‘black dress’ could provide benefits.

• Descriptions

Your product descriptions should also include the relevant search terms and any other product specific details.

Style, colour, model, materials, dimensions, any gender specificity (if appropriate) can all be emphasised here.

• Images

Professional quality photography is a given – but whether to use pack shots or lifestyle images depends on a number of factors.

Different product will require different things but A/B testing can determine more comprehensively what works best.

And of course, never use images that include watermarks, logos or extra text.

• Pricing

Ensure your pricing and currency information are up-to-date and correctly formatted so Google can display the relevant details.

• Grouping

Your products need to be grouped into categories, according to Google’s approved taxonomies.
And be as specific as possible – don’t stop at:

Apparel & Accessories > Clothing

When you could target searchers as closely as (for example):

Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Traditional & Ceremonial Clothing > Kimono Outerwear > Kimono Coats

Advanced shopping feed optimisation

Even if you’re across the basics, optimising your shopping feed should never stand still – these further tips can help you achieve advanced targeting.

• GTINS

A Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) means any product you sell online can be uniquely identified, like a barcode.

This means your product will be more likely to show up in long tail keyword searches.

And if you’re in front of people that know exactly what they want, you’re more likely to be in front of people who are ready to buy.

• Dynamic repricing

This means the prices of certain products can be automated to adjust depending on various external factors.

This could mean seasonal demands, such as summer clothing, or in direct response to competitor pricing.

If applied effectively by a skilful PPC agency, dynamic repricing can lead to upturns in both ROI and conversion rate.

• Custom labels

Because you’re not bidding on keywords, as you do with regular Google text ads, granular detail is harder to achieve.

If you want to segment products beyond Google’s preset groups, custom labels are a useful way.

They allow you to add further values to products, which in turn enables greater flexibility in bidding while creating your campaigns.

Ready to optimise your PPC advertising?

Whether you’re just starting out optimising your shopping feed, or ready to take your established ecommerce performance to the next level, support is available.

By ensuring your PPC adverts are created, tested and refined correctly, you can make the most of your data to target the customers you want.

Get in touch today, or if you know someone who might be interested, share this content and spread the love.