Having a clear ecommerce search strategy is essential – especially during the holidays.
Ready to refine your PPC approach?
Success will hinge on seamless collaboration between sales, marketing, and media teams.
The specifics may vary, but the following tips offer universal guidance.
1. Label everything
Consistent and coherent use of labels will be a key asset for retail ad accounts. Apply labels at every level possible:
Campaign.
Ad group/asset group.
Ad.
Keyword.
Labels, like any naming convention, should be logical, contain necessary information and be agreed upon by all team members.
Make sure to include:
Relevant date ranges for ad reports.
Helpful bidding information (e.g., “revenue”).
The labeler’s initials for easy tracking.
Remember to apply the labels once created, as they are not automatically applied at any level.
2. Differentiate campaign types
Ecommerce campaign types vary by advertiser. This makes it more challenging to decide which to launch and when during a sales cycle.
Performance Max, Search, and Demand Gen campaigns each have pros and cons for retail.
Meanwhile, Google’s AI Overviews may soon impact ecommerce by serving ads.
When selecting a media mix, define unique goals and KPIs for each campaign type.
For instance, if using Performance Max and Search with a 3X ROAS goal, it might be more effective to prioritize PMax with a higher ROAS goal and larger budget.
Demand Gen works well alongside PMax and/or Search provided it has distinct objectives, such as increasing add-to-cart revenue or driving new customer acquisition.
It should be treated as mid-upper funnel and launched with metrics like conversion value or acquisition goals, rather than a ROAS target.
Dig deeper: Lead gen vs. ecommerce: How to tailor your PPC strategies for success
3. Leverage automation
Google’s latest automation features (e.g., broad match, value-based bidding, Performance Max, automatically created assets, etc.) have left many advertisers skeptical about their potential performance gains.
However, for most ecommerce businesses and retailers, these tools are designed specifically to leverage revenue signals and drive performance improvements.
Bidding to revenue – or ideally net profit, once available to all advertisers – is crucial for retail success in paid search.
Broad match aids in understanding customer intent and offers valuable query data insights on how shoppers search for products or brands.
Leveraging these automation tools saves optimization time, drives higher ad rank and enhances competitiveness in the retail landscape.
AI Overviews often appear for informational or educational queries above search ads. Automated bidding is a critical component of running media alongside AI, not against it.
Paid campaigns should be optimized with conversion goals on a website, ideally with assigned values, to ensure they reach shoppers at the right place and time – including placements within AI Overviews.