The chronic hustle of e-commerce puts mounting pressure on business owners. There are thousands of businesses offering different types of products and services. Therefore, getting value for your advertising dollars relies more than ever on Google Ads for e-commerce.
Over the years, online store owners have asked us for help analyzing their PPC campaigns to enhance traffic, conversions, sales, and overall ROAS. In this article, we hope to provide tips and tricks on how e-commerce stores can leverage Google Ads to further their business goals.
What can Google Ads do for E-commerce?
From our experience, Google has proven time and time again to be the most powerful ad provider for E-commerce. They offer featured products on Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube, and the vast Display Network.
No matter your goals—from increasing brand recognition to driving impulsive purchases—Google gives you the accuracy and flexibility to hone in on your customers.
The advantages of Google Ads in E-commerce
Shoppers are browsing products with intent, meaning they are interested in purchasing them. This is an example of high-intent traffic.
Engaging Shopping ads, Display ads, and even Videos can be used to market your products.
- Scalable Results: You can measure and track every dollar you spend on Google Ads. Start small and scale upwards as performance improves.
- Detailed Analytics: Track multiple metrics like clicks, conversions, ROAS, and optimize the campaigns continuously.
Below are some valuable tips to follow if you want to run Google Ads for your e-commerce store:
#1 Google Merchant Center Linking
Link your e-commerce store to Google Merchant Center before launching a Shopping campaign. This is the home of your product data feed. Make sure that your product titles, descriptions, pricing, and availability maintain accuracy and search optimization. Nonoptimized feeds almost always lead to disapprovals and poorly performing ads.
Make sure to utilize keyword-rich titles and images that meet the bare minimum Google’s quality standards. Meeting those two requirements will improve the Shopping ad CTR massively.
#2 Use Smart Shopping Campaigns
Smart Shopping campaigns combine standard Shopping and display remarketing. Campaign management is simplified for the business because automation automates bidding and placement through an algorithm. These are ideal for businesses that wish to simplify campaign management.
They are great for quick wins but not for long-term use. Ad experts caution that Smart Shopping campaigns come with minimal insights and control. If granular optimization is what you desire, do not replace standard Shopping campaigns, as such campaigns have limited control.
“To successfully nail PPC strategy, the game plan requires going beyond merely zeroing in on keywords. It’s about zeroing in on actual human beings.”
#3 Use Audience Segmentation:
- Show ads to users who didn’t make a purchase but have visited your online store – Remarketing lists.
- Reach potential clients who resemble your past customers – Similar audiences.
- Target people who are currently searching for products like the one you are offering – In-market segments.
To set direct display ads with high variability precision, ad consultants often layer targeting and combine intent (keywords) and behavior (audience lists).
#4 Use SKAGs to Increase Relevance
Using single keywords paired with corresponding advertisements per group is an ideal practice to achieve an efficient strategy.
The idea is simple: one keyword per ad group with tightly matched ad copy and landing page.
SKAG approach helps with:
- Ad relevance
- CTR
- Conversion rates
SKAGs might improve campaign performance while pigeonholing the total cost per click (CPC), but users should beware of their time commitment.
This PhD methodology of multi-layer targeting poses heavy risks, but the scope for action improves the chances of results manifesting instantly. These sets of broad ads seem strangely off the mark in this region. The targeting subsides on relying on the target area for turnovers.
#5 Don’t use too much broad match keywords
Broad match keywords cast a wide net but often bring in irrelevant traffic. This can waste ad spend and hurt your ROAS.
Instead:
- Employ phrase match and exact match for precise targeting.
- Make it a habit to look at the search queries report to find negative keywords to add.
- Make sure to update your keywords according to the results received.
A qualified Google Ads consultant will constantly check and change the match types of the keywords to increase quality traffic and minimize unproductive costs.
#6 Enhance Your Landing Page Optimization
Your ad might grab attention, but it takes a great landing page to drive the sale. Bad optimization practices result in high bounce rates and low conversion rates.
Check that your landing page:
- Is mobile speed optimized, loads fast across devices,
- Displays the product clearly with high-resolution images. Additionally, has a compelling product description along with reliable customer reviews.
- Includes strong call-to-action (CTA) buttons like “Buy Now”. It is easy to navigate.
Every professional Google Ads agency in Singapore hires in-house web designers to perfect the ad’s user experience, often having the landing page designed in accordance with the goals set out in the ad.
#7 Monitor Everything with Conversion Tracking
To improve anything, tangible metrics must be involved. Relying on Google Ads conversion tracking and Google Analytics allows you to monitor the following:
- Purchases
- Cart Abandonment
- Page views
- Average order Value
- Return on Ad Spend
If these metrics roused your interest and you are on Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento, set up enhanced e-commerce tracking for a better insight that comes in granular detail for improved optimization.
#8 Implement Dynamic Remarketing
A dynamic remarketing strategy targets users who had previously interacted with the brand, showing them the specific products they were viewing. Because of increased brand recall, this tends to improve conversion rates drastically.
Dynamic remarketing needs the following:
- Linked Google Merchant Center Account
- Global site tag with dynamic parameters
- An active product feed
Most Google Ads strategists deem dynamic remarketing essential for any serious e-commerce site.
#9 Testing, Analyzing, and Scaling
Set-and-forget campaigns are uncommon for the most successful e-commerce businesses. The successful ones follow the cycle:
Test → Analyze → Optimize → Scale
Don’t forget to test everything:
- Ad copy
- Photographs
- CTA buttons
- Bidding strategies
- Landing Pages
Weekly performance reviews should be done to identify underperformers and reallocate the budget on campaigns that are doing well.
#10 Hire a Google Ads Consultant When Needed
E-commerce campaigns are complicated and time-consuming. If you’re too busy or your expected results aren’t coming through, a Google Ads consultant could help.
A professional will:
- Audit your existing Google Ads campaign
- Spot opportunities and issues
- Create a tailored PPC strategy.
- Update and optimize your campaigns for better performance
- The ROI from Google Ad experts tends to exceed the investment in most scenarios.
Final Thoughts
Google Ads provides one of the most effective means of bringing qualified traffic and increasing sales for e-commerce. Without a well-defined, continuously optimized strategy, expect ad spend to dwindle with little return quickly.
Following the above advice and possibly collaborating with a Google Ads expert can help improve campaign performance, minimize ad spending, and help your e-commerce store grow profitably.