Google Shopping

You may have also noticed that when you search for products on Google you see a grid of visual results at the top that look like e-commerce results.  Many people think this is Google just being really helpful and bringing you the best results it can find for the product you are looking for.  Sorry, did you miss the bit where Google made $438,356,164 a day last year?  Companies are also paying to be included in these results too, and it’s called Google Shopping.

Google Shopping is similar to Google Ads but with some significant differences. First, the results are visual, not just text adverts, and usually appear above everything else.  This is because Google knows that if you are searching for a bag of vegan toffee, and it shows you a picture of a bag of vegan toffee, you are more likely to click on that than a text advert.  The second difference is that you don’t select the search phrases or keywords to tell Google when to show your product – Google decides what will trigger your product being shown itself based on the data you upload about your product, meaning you don’t have the same fine control.

But again, it works.  I have worked with companies who spend several thousands of pounds a month on Google Shopping adverts, and if you know what you are doing and your product has enough of a margin, then it can be a route to success.  However, it’s this ‘enough margin’ that is the important bit.  If you’re selling a product for a few pounds then spending half of that just to get people to your site isn’t worth it.  If, on the other hand, you know that once someone buys one product you then connect with them so well that you make them a super-fan for life – that initial £8.50 purchase can become a £500 lifetime spend.  So, in this case, you can afford to lose out on the first sale.