The holiday season is approaching hot on the heels of the new Google Shopping upgrade. This requires you to make some very specific optimizations. Holiday performance is sure to suffer if you simply run in the default configuration. In working with over 200 clients, we've discovered that these new Google Shopping campaigns can boost profitability by at least 20% -- but only when the right tactics are in place. So use these seven highly actionable insights from our analysts to help you improve your Shopping campaigns for the holidays.

1. 7 Holiday Shopping
Campaign Tips
from expert analysts at ROI Revolution

2. Start at the top, then work your way down
I think the most important
Google Shopping
optimization tip is to start
top-level, then work your
way down.

3. Start at the top, then work your way down
All Products
Top Selling Brand
Brand product type
Product ID 1 Product ID 2
All other
product IDs
All other
Brand
product types
All other
products

4. Segment for Top Products
We use the new priority
settings to target our top
selling products in a
separate Shopping
campaign.

5. Segment for Top Products
By Campaign By Custom Label
High Priority
Medium
Priority
Low Priority
By
performanc
e
• Top
Products
By
profitability
• High
Margins
By
seasonality
• Winter
products

6. Leveraging Dimension Data
Use dimension data to bid
down specific products that
are overspending.

7. Leveraging Dimension Data

8. Merchant Promotions
Merchant Promos are a
great way to set yourself
apart during a very
competitive buying season,
and retailers who do it get
rewarded nicely.

9. Merchant Promotions
Merchant Promotions are the “Special Offer”
link shown under a product ad. When clicked,
the searcher gets a special code they can
redeem when they checkout on your site. This
option can be a pain to set up, but it works well
– especially during a busy shopping season.

10. Merchant Promotions
In addition to Merchant Promotions, make sure
you are using all available ad extensions for
Shopping campaigns. For example, last month
Google announced Product Ratings extensions.
This is a 5-star rating system that aggregates
rating and review data for your products. This
is another way to get your ads to stand out from
competitors.

11. Schedule Promotional Text
Schedule Shopping campaign
promo ad text for holiday
sales. This works great for
planning ahead for key dates
like Black Friday & Cyber
Monday.

12. Schedule Promotional Text
Use the Automate rule for Pausing &
Enabling ads. It will pay off by having
specific ads for specific shopping dates or
promotions you will be running. It will save
you time during the busy part of the season
so you don’t forget to launch new ads or
pause past promotions.

13. Use the benchmark data
Benchmark data is
particularly important in
maintaining Impression Share
with competitive CPCs for top
performing products.

14. Use the benchmark data

15. Harvest negative keywords
Eliminate wasted Google
Shopping ad spend by adding
negative keywords to your
Shopping campaigns.

16. Harvest negative keywords
Find search queries in the Keyword Tab
under the Details menu. Farm these
exact queries for negative keywords.
This helps control cost. Just don’t go
overboard and limit your traffic too
much.

17. For more insights on optimizing Google Shopping
for the holidays, watch our on-demand webinar
with Google’s Shopping expert Nicole Premo.
http://www.roirevolution.com/promos/webcli
nic-shopping-Q4-success-register.php