Google Shopping Ads is an advertising medium offering dominant SERP presence, lower CPCs and higher CTR and Conversion Rates than text ads. In this presentation, learn how to observe competitors and win. • Building the Account Architecture from Scratch Through Competitive Analysis • Mining for Top-converting Search Terms to Integrate into the Product Data Feed • Identifying Keywords that Surface Your Competitors’ Top Shopping Ads and What Do With Them • How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and How to Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

1. Using Competitive Data
to Drive Performance
on Google Shopping

2. Michael Stricker
U.S. Marketing Director, SEMrush
• Leading competitive research tool for digital marketing
• Agency, consulting and web design studio experience
• 100s of successful digital marketing campaigns
• 1,000,000s of impressions for web-­based businesses
• Speaker: ClickZ Live, HEROconf, Etail, SMX East.
• Author: blogs CIO.com, Business2Community, SEMrush.com
Publications Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly Ad News.
• Worked with Enterprise Brands 2Modern, AeroPostale, BET,
GolfSmith, HomeFirst, RedCats, RE/MAX, The-­House, Toshiba

3. Using Competitive Data to Drive Performance on Google Shopping
1. Build the Account Architecture from Scratch Through
Competitive Analysis
2. Identify the Keywords that Surface Your Competitors'
Top Shopping Ads and What to Do With Them
3. Mine for Top-­converting Search Terms to Integrate
into the Product Data Feed
4. How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and How to
Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

4. 1. Building the Account Architecture from Scratch
Through Competitive Analysis
9. Adjust bids for optimal ROI. Reallocate
budget to extend wins and cut losses.
10. Modify Ad Group structure to shift
merchandise and rework your feed to
add inventory and eliminate poorly-­
performing products.
11. Frequently update your data feed, keep
pace with your product inventory
database.
1. Create Google Merchant Center account
2. Link to AdWords account
3. Structure the data on your landing pages
4. Prep your funnel for device, location
5. Build and upload your product feed
6. Set up new PLA campaign
7. Create appropriate product groups
8. Start bidding and tracking your PLAs’
performance

5. 1. Building the Account Architecture from Scratch
Through Competitive Analysis
These are NOT the first steps…
9. Adjust bids for optimal ROI. Reallocate
budget to extend wins and cut losses.
10. Modify Ad Group structure to shift
merchandise and rework your feed to
add inventory and eliminate poorly-­
performing products.
11. Frequently update your data feed, keep
pace with your product inventory
database.
1. Create Google Merchant Center account
2. Link to AdWords account
3. Structure the data on your landing pages
4. Prep your funnel for device, location
5. Build and upload your product feed
6. Set up new PLA campaign
7. Create appropriate product groups
8. Start bidding and tracking your PLAs’
performance X X

6. Pre-Planning
Research

7. Pre-­Planning Research
1. Identify Competitors
2. Evaluate Keywords
3. Compare Competitive Performance

8. Pre-­Planning Research
Wait a minute, why are we talking about keywords?
This is Google Shopping…

9. Pre-­Planning Research
Wait a minute, why are we talking about keywords?
This is Google Shopping…
• Relevance through to Landing Pages
• Product Names, Numbers, Brands, slang
• Feed, Titles, Descriptions, additional columns
• Groups, labels

10. Pre-­Planning Research
Identify Competitors
• Google Shopping Competitors
• SERP Competitors
• AdWords Competitors
• Business Model Competitors
• Keen Competitors

11. Identify &Evaluate Competitors

12. Identify & Evaluate Paid Competitors

13. Identify & Evaluate Paid Competitors

14. Pre-­Planning Research
2. Identify and Evaluate Keywords

15. Pre-­Planning Research
2. Identify and Evaluate Keywords

16. Pre-­Planning Research
2. Identify and Evaluate Keywords
X

17. Identify & Evaluate PLA Competitors

18. Filter by Product, Export PLA Competitor Keywords

19. Identify &Evaluate Paid Competitors

20. Identify & Evaluate Paid Competitors
Common Keywords = Battle Zone
Common, Strong Competitors = Sweet Spot

21. Identify &Evaluate Paid Competitors

22. Identify &Evaluate Paid Competitors

23. Identify &Evaluate Paid Competitors

24. Identify & Evaluate PLA Competitors – All Keywords

25. Identify & Evaluate Paid Competitors
Your Unique Keywords = Defensive Posture
Competitors’ Unique Keywords = Opportunity

26. Identify & Evaluate PLA Competitors Unique Keywords

27. Pre-­Planning Research
Identifying the Keywords that Surface Your
Competitors' Top Shopping Ads and
What to Do With Them

28. What to Do With Them
Incorporate Keywords in appropriate Feed columns
Start with Title and Description

29. Pre-­Planning Research
Identifying the Keywords that Surface Your
Competitors' Top Shopping Ads and
What to Do With Them
Some Put Brand First – every opportunity
Primary Keywords to the fore
Some evidence that plurals and mis-­spellings work

30. What to Do With Them
View Competitors’ Ads for Promotions

31. What to Do With Them
Deploy Counter-­Measures in “Create an Ad ”Interface

32. How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and
How to Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

33. How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and
How to Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

34. How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and
How to Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

35. How Price Plays a Role on Shopping and
How to Leverage Competitive Pricing Data

36. Offers
FREE Demonstrations Available
FREE Trials
http://semrush.com

37. Questions?

38. Thank you!
Michael Stricker
U.S. Marketing Director
@radioms