There's no doubt Google Shopping has become a key revenue driver for retailers. In fact, BuyerPath's retail clients saw a 126% higher return on ad spend than text ads. But for some, managing bids and optimizing feeds is a struggle, so how can they optimize their PLA program without adding additional resources? Download this white paper to learn how.

1. Moving beyond the basics
FOUR
ADVANCED
STRATEGIES
FOR GOOGLE
SHOPPING

2. 1
Adoption rates rise
Since Google Product Search transitioned to Google Product Listing Ads, a pay-for-play image-based
ad service, we’ve witnessed adoption rates grow as retailers embrace the profitable advertising
model. In fact, the number of PLAs displayed in November 2013 doubled over 2012 and the number of
advertisers grew 55% to 8,700 (Jefferies). Now that the average retailer is spending between 30% and
50% of their search budgets on product listing ads (PLAs), they are looking for ways to optimize the
channel to improve performance. PLA management doesn’t mean greater complexity and more effort,
with the right data sets and strategies, retailers can consistently deliver superior advertising.
Introducing
Google Shopping
Retailers are spending an average
of 30%-50% of their search budgets
on Google Shopping. We expect this
number to trend upwards as more
retailers learn how to drive greater
performance through the channel.
50% Product Listing Ad Spend

3. 2
Many retailers employ similar strategies to manage both text ads and PLAs, but find they are unable to
achieve similar results. The reason for this is PLAs have a unique set of challenges that are harder to
solve than traditional text-based PPC. Some of the key obstacles include:
1. Ensuring the right ad is delivered
Traditional text ads match a user’s search query to a keyword that
the advertiser creates and controls. With PLAs, queries are matched
to products that are deemed relevant by Google based on product
information contained in the GMC feed. Retailers have significantly
less control over when and why their ads are appearing for specific
queries. In order for retailers to control their message and deliver
the most relevant ad, they must understand consumer intent. The
questions now are, how do retailers understand consumer intent and
how can they use it to drive better performance?
2. Optimizing the bid process
Bid management is a huge task for retailers, especially those who
have a large catalog of products. It’s so complex, most retailers
set one bid for broad categories of products, or even worse, for all
of their products. This is like setting the same bid for all keywords.
Other retailers give up entirely and put all the control back in Google’s
hands by setting cost per acquisition (CPA) targets. Optimizing
PLA performance is an even larger struggle, so where do retailers
get started? Common PPC metrics such as average position and
impression share are not available for PLAs, so what data should
a retailer look at in order to effectively manage and optimize bids?
3. Managing PLAs with limited resources
PLAs should receive the same amount of time and attention as
the rest of your PPC program. They must be created, managed,
and optimized due to complexities that stem from product catalog
attributes. IT has to be involved in every change, reducing the
efficiency of the marketing team and draining critical development
resources. Many retailers struggle to find internal resources to
manage PLAs, and external agencies and feed management
companies are not providing optimal performance. How does a
retailer find the right set of PLA management solutions so they can
focus on marketing and advertising strategy instead?
Challenges

4. 3
BuyerPath clients have seen PLA performance outperform text ads, as well as the industry averages.
Cost-per-click (CPC) has remained 13% lower than text ads, while click-through-rates (CTR) have been
77% higher, signaling a positive response to the visually appealing ads by consumers. Shoppers are
not only clicking ads, but they’re converting too. The conversion rate (CVR) is 87% higher, leading to
126% more return on ad spend (ROAS). The only sacrifice will be average order value (AOV). Because
consumers are finding exactly what they need, they are less likely to browse resulting in a 14% lower
AOV. During the 2013 holidays, BuyerPath saw saw PLAs outpace text ads in clicks (3X), ad spend
(10X), conversion rate (10X), and revenue (5X), while CPCs increased as competition heightened YoY.
There are various strategies retailers can employ to improve the performance of their PLA programs,
but the difference between a modestly performing PLA and an exceptional one hinges on how well the
retailer ads align with consumer needs and interests.
PLAs gain momentum
Client PLA Performance Over Non-Brand Text Ads
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%

5. 4
Relevancy and PLAs
Advertising that’s relevant converts. In the case of online
advertising, retailers who take a “set it and forget it approach” will
see fewer conversions and return on ad spend, and they’ll ultimately
fail the consumer. When it comes to product listing ads, retailers
must understand the intent behind each search query so that they’re
matched to the most relevant product in the feed. This provides the
best opportunity to improve impression volume, clicks, conversion,
and deliver an overall better shopping experience for the consumer.
It comes down to delivering the right product, at the right price, at
the right time, to the right person. We’ll cover strategies to help get
you there.
In the past, traditional advertising meant casting the largest net to see how many customers could
be pulled in. Commercials have cannibalized television programs, billboards appear at every major
intersection, and jingles have taken over radio airwaves. The average consumer is exposed to an
estimated 5,000 messages per day, and that number is only growing.
The rise in the quantity of advertising does not translate into more conversions. Targeting continues to
be a critical component to an ads success. Text ads allow for advanced segmentation and targeting,
and retailers continue to invest in this channel. By delivering an ad that’s matched to a consumer’s
query, a retailer is acknowledging consumer intent and increasing their chances for conversion. The
same is true for PLAs.
Just because an ad is targeted, doesn’t mean it will deliver the click through and conversion rates
you’re looking for. Only ads that are relevant to a consumer will generate superior results.
Ad relevancy
Note, all of the tactics that follow can be pursued with generally available tools, however, the time
and effort required without the assistance of a PLA product may be prohibitive. A new generation of
technology is available that provides the analytical foundation for real-time insights and automated
workflows that can rapidly implement recommendations.
*

6. 5
1. The right product
“weed eater”
Let’s take a look at the search query
“weed eater.” It’s both a brand and a
category of products. A retailer may
not be able to understand consumer
intent upon first inspection, but after
analyzing other search and sales
data, can determine whether or not
the leaf blower by Weedeater is the
right match for this query. It’s unlikely
to be a match because it’s not aligned
to consumer intent, and therefore the
ad should be adjusted or negated.
Selecting the right product
Retailers should create PLAs for their product catalog and then monitor performance. PLAs are like
shopping windows, you want your highest performing products on display. Since Google determines
which product—if any—will be matched; special attention must be paid to how you structure your PLA
program. A best practice is to use intent information from your paid and organic search programs,
site search, and sales information to help organize product feeds into highly performing categories, or
segments. From there you can select the top converting products per category to promote.
The gateway ad
Even when you select the best product to display, it may not be the one that a consumer purchases on
your site rather, the product shown in the ad simply serves as a gateway to another product. BuyerPath
has found that only 56% of PLA orders include the product listed in the original PLA.
While analyzing ad performance in BuyerPath’s PLA dashboard, we noticed that traffic for a high
level query was being sent to many different products, but only two of those products were top
sellers, driving the most revenue for the entire site. Through negation, BuyerPath shifted traffic to
the top two products to ensure they received maximum exposure. This resulted in a 150% increase in
revenue for the query.
150% REVENUE INCREASE
Case Study: A Major Office Furniture Retailer

7. 6
“solitaire diamond ring”
When a shopper searches for a
diamond ring, PLAs are shown for
rings costing less than $100 to nearly
$11,000. There is a significant gap
in price ranges―so who will get the
click? Analyze search and sales data
to set an average price that most
closely aligns with consumer intent.
When inexpensive is cheap
The lowest priced product is not always the highest converter. A shopper may question the quality of
the product, your brand, and your overall product line. One strategy is to create price buckets based on
the average price at which a customer converts. This data should be pulled by category and for further
granularity, segmented by new versus existing customer.
Promotions versus price
Promotions are often hidden in PLAs with a mouse-over. Google includes both MSRP and sale price
in the GMC feed. BuyerPath data has shown that a lower sales price will typically outperform a free
shipping offer for PLAs. In the case of paid search, a free shipping offer can provide a significant boost
to click through rates when placed in ad text. If you’re offering free shipping for products appearing in
your PLAs, try a test where you lower the product price by the shipping amount, and saving the offer for
your text ads. As results will vary by retailer, make sure you monitor the results and adjust your
program accordingly.
2. The right price

8. 7
3. At the right time
“apple iphone”
When searching for a broad term
like Apple iPhone, we see several
generations of the product. It’s
important to figure out which model,
and price point, has the highest
conversion. In this example, the two
year old model at the highest price
point offered by Walmart should be
negated.
Ad performance changes over time
You may have a hot product now, but it won’t remain that way forever. Why pay to promote it past its
time? It’s important to monitor where each of your products are in their lifecycle and determine which
ones are the most relevant now.
When you promote an aging product
You may want to run PLAs for an underperforming product or aging model when you’re ready to
liquidate inventory. While it’s logical to promote clearance items, your conversion rate may not be as
high as you would hope if a consumer is looking for a newer model.
How to funnel traffic to the right product
In order to funnel traffic to the best target, retailers have three options: adjust bids, negate poorly
performing queries, or simply don’t promote certain products at all. We recommend you use all three
with an emphasis on negating poor performing queries.

9. 8
“soccer cleats”
A person searches for the term soccer
cleats. Is this person a beginner or
pro athlete? Chances are, a trained
athlete would know a brand or
model of soccer cleat they wanted
and therefore wouldn’t use such a
generic term. By better understanding
who the shopper is, you can align a
product with their intent, increase
your odds of a conversion.
While working with one online retailer, BuyerPath noticed that the top text ads query wasn’t getting
a lot of traffic with PLAs. After looking at the product feed, we noticed that the query wasn’t present
in titles and descriptions. Product titles and description changes were quickly updated using
BuyerPath’s PLA automation feature, resulting in a 360% increase in impressions and a 17% in CTR,
highlighting an increase in both reach and ad relevancy.
A 360% INCREASE IN REACH
Case Study: A Major Office Furniture Retailer
4. To the right person
Understanding intent by customer target
There are a lot of things we can find out about a shopper based on their query. It’s important to figure
out the key differences in your customers that your ads should align to. Information such as level
of expertise, price point, and sense of urgency are located within the search term. One useful trick
is to analyze general versus specific queries. If you’re an apparel retailer, there will likely be a large
difference between a woman searching for a pair of high rise boot cut jeans and one searching for
Levi’s skinny jeans. Creating groups aligned to customer intent will provide you with the greatest
opportunity for conversion.

10. 9
Core Benefits of Google Shopping Campaigns
• Visibility into Product Catalogs: Google Shopping Campaigns now offers retailers the ability to
segment products into their own groups directly in AdWords. This gives a view into your product
catalogs without having to go to the Google Merchant Center, helping streamline the previously
fragmented experience of slicing and dicing a product catalog into targets.
• Visibility Into Product Ad Metrics: Retailers can now see product performance data independent of
its product group. Previously they were only able to get performance data at the product target level,
and for broader targets, weren’t able to decipher which products within that target were performing
well. This provides visibility into performance of the exact product that was displayed in the PLA.
• Visibility into Competitive Metrics: Competitive metrics such as impression share, benchmark CTR,
and benchmark CPC are now available through Google Shopping Campaigns, giving retailers the ability
to see how they stack up against their competitors.
Tips for a Successful Transition to Google Shopping
• Make Sure the Product Feed is Updated: Review your product_type, adwords_labels, and
adwords_grouping values before migrating your Shopping Campaigns. Remember that adwords_labels
and adwords_grouping will no longer be supported, and the new custom_label attribute will be limited
to five columns for each product.
• Transition Slowly: Move to Google Shopping Campaigns slowly, making sure the right strategies are
being aligned for your product ads program and business goals. Quick moves can have a detrimental
effect on impression share, CPCs, CVR, etc.
Transitioning to Google
Shopping Campaigns
Advertisers will be forced to shift to Google Shopping Campaigns by end of August 2014. This new
campaign type for PLAs provides retailers with more ways to manage their product ad programs. Prior to
Google’s launch of Google Shopping Campaigns in September 2013, a single ad group was associated with
an entire Google Shopping Campaign. After realizing the importance of ad groups, Google has launched ad
group level controls; including mobile modifiers, negatives, and promotional copy to better manage your
product ads.

11. 10
• Keep a Close Eye on Traffic: Once you have begun the transition to Google Shopping Campaigns,
keep an eye on your traffic levels – not only for certain product groups, but for particular queries as
well. Make sure your new campaigns are picking up your most successful queries before shutting the
old campaigns off.
• Begin Transitioning Sooner Rather than Later: Start by moving your smaller campaigns over first.
This allows you to get a firm grasp on how the new Google Shopping Campaigns will perform for your
product ads, before transitioning over the rest of your product ads program.
Finding a Bidding
Strategy that Works
Starting June 30th, Google will be retiring their max CPA% bidding strategy for PLAs. So what does this
mean for your PLA strategy? Let’s take a look.
What is cost per acquisition (CPA)% bidding?
A CPA percentage target is calculated by subtracting overall cost from sales. Google uses historical
conversion data to predict the likelihood that ads will convert, and then sets CPA% targets at the ad
group or campaign level.
The advantage of a CPA% bidding strategy is a retailer can set it, and forget it. The main benefit being
the time saved in managing campaigns.
The disadvantages of a CPA% bidding strategy are two-fold. First, retailers leave money on the table
with broad spend allocation. Second, consistent performance requirements limit your flexibility. CPA%
campaigns are slow to react or anticipate sudden changes in performance because Google is only
looking backward at a 30-day window. This prevents seasonal or new product campaigns from even
using the model.

12. What is cost per click (CPC) bidding?
A CPC bidding strategy allows retailers to decide how much they would be willing to pay for someone
to click on a text or product listing ad (PLA), and then Google determines the actual cost that will be
paid based on that retailer’s quality score (QS) and ad rank.
The first advantage of a CPC bidding strategy is the level of granularity this model provides. Retailers
can precisely allocate spend in order to optimize return. Second, retailers can quickly adjust traffic
volume to anticipate or react to sudden performance changes.
The one disadvantage for the CPC bidding strategy is that granularity can potentially lead to scalability
issues. Retailers can be stuck with a multitude of bids that have to be adjusted regularly so targets can
be met.
A Happy Medium: The Portfolio Approach
At BuyerPath, we recommend retailers meet in the middle to maximize conversions and clicks.
We take a portfolio approach by optimizing CPC bidding strategies in order to achieve a CPA% goal.
This provides granularity and flexibility with a CPC model, without sacrificing return.
CPA Success
When we transitioned one
BuyerPath client from CPA%
to a portfolio CPC strategy,
clicks increased 55%, revenue
increased 71%, CPA dollar
amount went down 11%, and
the CPA percentage amount
decreased 7% year over year.
END CPA
50k
100k
150k
200k
250k
300k
350k
6-24-13 7-10-13
BEGIN CPC
Before and After Increase in Impressions
CPA Impressions CPC Impressions Total Impressions
11

13. Finding the right solution
Due to resource contraints, many retailers find themselves unable to dedicate the amount of time and
IT resources needed to properly manage a PLA program. Some elect to outsource this function to their
feed management provider. While these solution providers deliver a properly formatted feed, they don’t
provide the insights into consumer queries that are necessary to optimize your PLA program. They are
also not incentivized to improve performance. Other retailers elect to work with a search agency for PLA
management. Unfortunately, many agencies lack the technology that’s necessary to make real-time
updates and enhancements to the feed in order to improve ad performance. Agencies also provide a
one-size-fits-all algorithm that’s not tailored to your unique business goals. So what’s the alternative?
Technology is the answer
A PLA management technology can take the burden off an in-house team by automating bid
optimization and making performance recommendations.
BuyerPath is the only PLA solution with bid management and real-time feed optimization built into one
tool. At the core of the technology is ad relevancy, which helps predict which product will be relevant to
each consumer based on intent data.
Other key capabilities include:
» Diagnose problems and recommends changes based on pre-determined priorities
and investment thresholds
» Automated bid management and real-time feed optimization
» Funnel traffic to the right product based on consumer intent insights
» Customizable dashboards and reporting capabilities
Managing PLAs
with limited resources
12

14. 14
Summary
Product listing ad programs are complex and difficult to manage. As retailers continue to see strong
results from PLAs, they will continue to invest more spend, further driving the need for greater
performance. The amount of data to be analyzed, the complexity of coordinating strategies across
disparate systems, and the number of changes required to provide real-time optimization is beyond
the scope of most individuals and teams. With well-integrated technology, powerful analytics, and
automated workflows, a high performance PLA program can be effectively managed with minimal effort.
GENERIC PLA SOLUTION BUYERPATH PLA SOLUTION
Text Ad Performance PLA Performance
About BuyerPath
BuyerPath’s technology offers retailers advanced decision support to help create, optimize, and scale
campaigns by employing market proven algorithms and automated technology to promote millions of
products with maximum returns.
Interested in more PLA resources? Visit www.buyerpath.com,
email us at solutions@buyerpath.com or call 800.788.9152
2130 S Congress Ave • Austin, TX 78704
CONTACT US