🔍 Tips for getting more from Smart Shopping campaigns

Feb 26, 2020

Good morning search marketers, are you running Shopping campaigns?

If so, chances are you've gotten the Smart Shopping pitch from Google. Reps are selling them hard. Shopping campaign expert and owner of ZATO marketing, Kirk Williams says Smart Shopping campaigns are worth testing, but you should understand how these automated campaigns work first. I know, that sounds obvious, but Kirk shared several non-obvious tips and tactics for extracting more insights and value from Smart Shopping campaigns at SMX West last week — and how to keep your job as the automation march continues.

Goodbye dimensions, hello labels. Later this week, Google Images will replace the image dimensions that appear when you hover over image thumbnails and instead show descriptive labels: "product," "recipe," "video" and — coming soon — "licensable." The goal is to make it easier for users to find what they're looking for right from the thumbnails. These labels show on mobile already and are powered by structured data, so be sure to optimize your images accordingly.

In testing news, "Made in USA" labels were spotted in text ads on Bing — in Germany. Microsoft Advertising has a number of automated ad extensions and often trials new options.

Read on for a Pro Tip on protecting your brand search traffic, the new @YouTubeLiason and more.

Ginny Marvin,
Editor-in-Chief

Pro Tip

Take back control of your trademark queries in Google Ads

"Some retailers assume that if shoppers are searching for their trademark keywords, those shoppers will eventually end up on their site. In today's hyper-competitive SERP, that is not a given," explains Chris Corrado of Sidecar. "Thanks to Google's 2013 SERP update, competitors are increasingly bidding on trademark terms in Google Ads. While they cannot use your trademark keyword in their ad copy, they can undercut your business by offering discounts or faster delivery to effectively steal your customers. Here are some ways to work around this challenge."

"Protect your trademark terms. Owning your trademark search can make the difference between retaining and losing a customer. Your trademark ad will have a high-quality score compared to your competitors' ads because you are the actual retailer the shopper is searching for."

"Measure your Google Ads health. Monitor trademark campaign performance carefully. If you face increased competition or new customer acquisition slows, you may see a gradual decline in trademark traffic. If that is the case, it's time to rethink your Google Ads strategy and identify where the gaps are in your customer acquisition funnel."

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Your 5 biggest Google Ads challenges & how to solve them

Paid search is more competitive than ever. Search marketers need to be proactive and learn how to get the best out of the right tools to stay on top of their PPC 'A-game' (A for automation). Adthena created this guide to address the top challenges and offer solutions that will help you get better results and make your life easier.

Get it now »

Search Shorts

Changes take time, says Google

Google changes take time. When Google makes changes to its search systems, it can take time. Patience is needed, said Google's Danny Sullivan on Twitter "If you rush into making change, you can produce other unexpected issues. So it's explore, test and launch."

PageRank. John Mueller of Google said Google still uses PageRank in 2020. He said on Twitter, "we do use PageRank internally, among many, many other signals. It's not quite the same as the original paper, there are lots of quirks (eg, disavowed links, ignored links, etc.), and, again, we use a lot of other signals that can be much stronger."

@YouTubeLiaison. Similar to the @SearchLiaison account on Twitter for Google Search issues, now there is a @YouTubeLiaison account on Twitter for YouTube issues.

Google's Danny Sullivan to keynote SMX Advanced!

Join us June 8-10 in Seattle for Danny's first return to the SMX stage since joining Google in October 2017. His through-the-looking-glass keynote will provide an invaluable glimpse into the search engine's inner-workings from the man who knows it best.

Learn more »