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Implementing Product Displays In Ads

Google Merchant Center (MC), formally known as Google Base, provides one of the best visual examples of permission marketing and one of the most under-glorified search engine marketing strategies. MC provides the ability to upload and manage product information and images that can then be displayed in both organic listings AND PPC listings. Not only that, but they can be (and often are) placed above the first organic search result. So while an SEO spends hours, resources, and money to gain the first organic listing in Google, their site’s listing is pushed down by a half dozen other merchants. While frustrating for an SEO, the customer couldn’t be happier because the quality of his search experience was just significantly enhanced:




Customer: “I want to buy a cappuccino machine.” Google: “Here are some cappuccino machines.”


On a page otherwise filled with nothing but green, black and blue text, having an image set above the normal organic listing or placed in support of your PPC listing sets the ad apart and increases the likelihood of it being clicked. With a heavily targeted PPC campaign, exact product images can be displayed for every product advertised. For more generic campaigns, we can select what images show for what ads.

Being part of the Google suite, the merchant center can be built and linked to an existing Adwords campaign. By implementing a targeted PPC campaign, this only further enhances the overlap between the customer’s desire and ad/website’s offering. Besides the overlap between searcher’s desire and the offering of the advertiser, this is a tremendous way to differentiate your ads from your competitors. PPC advertisers using Google’s Merchant Center have reported click-through rate (CTR) increasing anywhere from 10% to 50% when an image was displayed with their ad.

Optimizing For Local Searches

Optimizing local map listings is considered essential for businesses with local relevance. In other words, when the physical location of your business is relevant to the customer experience. The physical addresses of Amazon.com or Expedia.com are not relevant to customers because the entire purchase and interaction takes place online. For a business that requires the customer to come to the physical address, for example a self storage company or local pizzeria, having an optimized presence on local map listings will play a huge role in how people find your business.

When someone performs a search for a local business on a smartphone (for example, an iPhone), it uses GPS technology, Google Maps, and Google Places listings to display relevant businesses near your area. When searched in a Google Map mobile application, the searcher would see results like this:



The blue dot in the middle of the screen represents the searcher’s location and the red pins represent the self storage facilities nearby. One of the businesses on the map has an optimized Google Places listing configured with their Google Adwords PPC campaign. As a result, not only does their business show up as a red pin, but their listing is highlighted when the searcher performs their search. So while Google has selected 10 self storage facilities based on the searcher’s location, it has given priority to the sponsored listing.


Clicking the blue arrow displays the following screens:


The process for the potential customer is search, select, call and it takes place in as little as ten seconds without the searcher ever visiting the business’ website. The cooperative synergy between Google’s information base, its ad platform, and the Apple iPhone operating system has created an efficient and effective experience for the user.

Mobile Ad Optimization

While the above scenario applies to someone searching for a physical address on the go, it’s also possible that casual web browsing is taking place on the user’s mobile device - even without the intent to visit the physical address. In other words, browsing the internet as they would on their computer but doing so on their smartphone or iPad.

Here’s a screenshot for a site not designed or intended for mobile web traffic, but one that still captures a significant amount.


After reviewing the data, we can see that people are in fact viewing the site from mobile devices and their experience on the site falls below the normal site averages. This might not just mean your mobile traffic is poor. It could also mean your site is optimized poorly for mobile traffic. To understand which is the case, the data needs to be explored. How they are finding the site and what content they are consuming are two very important questions. From there, the hypothesizing and testing can begin.

If after reviewing the data you’re confident you’re getting the right mobile traffic to your site and have made the proper adjustments to the site to make it more “mobile friendly,” you’ll need to decide how to get more mobile traffic.

When setting up an Adwords account, Google gives us the option for which devices our ads can show (desktop, desktop and mobile, customized mobile settings, etc.)


With the default being “All available devices” (this includes desktops and mobile devices), chances are your ads have already shown to mobile traffic.


While it’s only 6% of traffic for this particular ad group, CTR is significantly stronger and CPC (cost-per-click) significantly lower. These two results can be explained by decreased competition (fewer advertisers opted - in to mobile advertising) and better visibility (fewer listings displayed = higher chance of receiving click).

Developing a unique campaign that targets mobile users and touts the mobile accessibility of your site will likely award you clicks and potentially conversions.