Octiv Digital
Product Listing Ads Management
For e-commerce brands, product listing ads (PLA) are a must-have type of digital advertising. These ad units appear in the shopping tab of Google and can appear as display ads on related websites. By displaying important product information, PLAs have a strong engagement rate and are widely adopted by online shoppers.
What Are Product Listing Ads?
Product listing ads, also known as Google Shopping ads or PLAs, give online retailers a strong way to showcase their products. Instead of plain text, these ads feature images, prices, and product details that help shoppers quickly compare options from different online retailers.
Running PLAs allows your products to appear at the top of search results, above organic listings and in front of standard text ads. This prime placement means more people see your products before exploring other results.
Google Shopping ads are often more cost-effective than text ads and include advanced targeting options to connect with the right audience. By optimizing PLAs, businesses can engage customers throughout their purchase journey, from initial discovery to final conversion, using data that is specific to their products.
What Are Product Listing Ads?
Product listing ads, also known as Google Shopping ads or PLAs, give online retailers a strong way to showcase their products. Instead of plain text, these ads feature images, prices, and product details that help shoppers quickly compare options from different online retailers.
Running PLAs allows your products to appear at the top of search results, above organic listings and in front of standard text ads. This prime placement means more people see your products before exploring other results.
Google Shopping ads are often more cost-effective than text ads and include advanced targeting options to connect with the right audience. By optimizing PLAs, businesses can engage customers throughout their purchase journey, from initial discovery to final conversion, using data that is specific to their products.
How Do Google Shopping Campaigns Work?
It Starts with Product Information
Every product ad you see on Google starts with information about a product including its title, brand (for retailers of products), pricing information, variant options (color, size, gender, etc.) and more. Instead of bidding on specific keywords like standard text ads, with product listing ads, you bid on your actual product catalog.
E-commerce backends like WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce & Salesforce Commerce Cloud allow you to edit your product data and it’s where we source information to build your Google Shopping campaigns.
It Starts with Product Information
Every product ad you see on Google starts with information about a product including its title, brand (for retailers of products), pricing information, variant options (color, size, gender, etc.) and more. Instead of bidding on specific keywords like standard text ads, with product listing ads, you bid on your actual product catalog.
E-commerce backends like WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce & Salesforce Commerce Cloud allow you to edit your product data and it’s where we source information to build your Google Shopping campaigns.
Optimizing Product Feeds
The building blocks of product listing ads come from a product data feed. This feed, generated from your e-commerce system, contains the essential elements needed to show product information in Google. The data feed should include the product name, its description, its brand, its MPN (manufacturer part number), price, sales price, images and any other pertinent information. The more detail you can provide in a product feed, the more ways we can leverage the data for different ads and strategies to connect with customers.
Maintaining a product feed should be a seamless, automated process. We can help ensure the data is properly exporting from your e-commerce system to the Google Merchant Center and Google Ads.
Product Groupings & Partitions
With a product data feed ready to go, the next step is to determine how you want products grouped together. Unlike keywords and ad groups in standard search ad campaigns, we use product grouping for Google Shopping ads. Depending on your product catalog and audience, we may recommend splitting up products by the brand they belong to (for retail organizations), separating products by price tiers or highlighting the best-selling SKUs from the product catalog. Additionally, we can segment products for upcoming sales and push their impression share as high as possible.
These product partitions also lend themselves to the bidding strategy employed for these campaigns. The correct product grouping goes a long way in determining how effective these ads will be.
Product Groupings & Partitions
With a product data feed ready to go, the next step is to determine how you want products grouped together. Unlike keywords and ad groups in standard search ad campaigns, we use product grouping for Google Shopping ads. Depending on your product catalog and audience, we may recommend splitting up products by the brand they belong to (for retail organizations), separating products by price tiers or highlighting the best-selling SKUs from the product catalog. Additionally, we can segment products for upcoming sales and push their impression share as high as possible.
These product partitions also lend themselves to the bidding strategy employed for these campaigns. The correct product grouping goes a long way in determining how effective these ads will be.
PLA Bid & Budget Management
Like any other type of search advertising, product listing ads have to be carefully measured to ensure they deliver a strong ROAS (return-on-ad-spend). This entails setting the proper bids and budget for your product catalog and keeping a close eye on what competitors in the auction do with their product ads. If you operate in a highly competitive segment, remember that the cost-per-click needs to be competitive to ensure your products’ visibility.
With a PLA strategy and budget in place, we launch ads and begin monitoring KPIs important to your e-commerce organization like conversion rate and ROAS. We then make adjustments to align with campaign goals and continue to grow the ROAS.
Be sure to have your products properly advertised and be ready to compete for shoppers on Google.
Why Are Google Shopping Ads Important for E-Commerce Brands?
Online shopping continues to grow year in and year out with more opportunities for people to find and purchase products through Amazon, online market places and of course, Google. This growth is expected to continue and if you operate an e-commerce store, you want your brand and products to be part of this projection. Google continues to invest in this program and it’s now a major part of e-commerce and online shopping.
Being able to compete in a major channel like Google Shopping allows you to connect with customers who search for products just like yours. Increase your brand and product visibility today with PLAs.
Why Are Google Shopping Ads Important for E-Commerce Brands?
Online shopping continues to grow year in and year out with more opportunities for people to find and purchase products through Amazon, online market places and of course, Google. This growth is expected to continue and if you operate an e-commerce store, you want your brand and products to be part of this projection. Google continues to invest in this program and it’s now a major part of e-commerce and online shopping.
Being able to compete in a major channel like Google Shopping allows you to connect with customers who search for products just like yours. Increase your brand and product visibility today with PLAs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Product Listing Ads
How do PLAs work?
How are PLAs different from text ads?
How do you create a product listing ad?
How much do product listing ads cost?
How do you optimize PLA performance?
What happens if product information changes?
Can you run PLAs and text ads at the same time?
How often should you update product data?
Paid Search Tips and Advice
What It Means to Be a Google Partner Agency
Hiring a digital marketing agency is a major decision for any business. When your paid search campaigns, ad spend, and growth goals are on the line, choosing an agency with proven credibility...
Why Negatives Are Essential for Product Listing Ads
How Keywords Are Managed in Google Shopping Ads If you're running product listing ads (PLAs) via Google Shopping campaigns, you already know they can be a game-changer for driving traffic and sales....
Google Marketing Live 2025: Key Updates to Know
Google Marketing Live 2025 sent a strong message: artificial intelligence is now central to how search, advertising, and shopping function across the Google ecosystem. For business owners and...
How We Took This SaaS Brand from MVP to Acquisition
In the SaaS world, getting acquired is often the ultimate sign that you’ve built something valuable—not just in terms of product, but in market traction, brand credibility, and overall demand. But...
How to Update Billing Methods in Google Ads
Updating Billing in Google Ads Keeping your Google Ads billing information up-to-date ensures your ad campaigns run smoothly. If you're looking to update your payment details but aren't sure where...
Why Search Marketing is Ideal for Mental Health Practices
Finding new clients as a therapist isn’t just about getting your name out there—it’s about connecting with the right people when they need help the most. Many mental health professionals invest time...
So This is the New Year…
So this is the new year...and I don't feel any different. Just kidding, Ben Gibbard. There's a lot that has changed in SEO, digital media and web design. From Wordpress and WP Engine fighting it out...
Google Ads Smart Bidding Explained
Setting up Google Ads can feel overwhelming if you’re only focusing on keywords and ad groups. To truly boost your campaign’s performance, it’s important to dive deeper into Google’s bidding...
What Types of Conversions Should SaaS Sites Measure?
SaaS (software-as-a-service) brands are no strangers to digital marketing and performance marketing. When driving traffic and investing thousands on Google Ads or another paid platform like G2, one...
Can You Use Competitor Names in Google Ads?
Can I Use Competitor Brand Names in Google Ads? Digital marketing can be tricky and requires creativity to be competitive. One way to be competitive is to bid on competitor names in Google Ads....
Yelp Ads vs. Google Ads: What’s Best?
As a small business owner, figuring out where to put your advertising dollars can feel overwhelming. Yelp Ads and Google Ads are two major players, especially for local businesses, each offering...
How to Optimize Your Product Data Feed for Google Shopping
Google Shopping Starts with Product Data In the fast-changing world of e-commerce marketing and advertising, getting noticed on Google Shopping is a must for brands to stand out. However, it can be...
The Octiv Note
Stay up-to-date with the latest news and tips from the world of digital marketing, web development, and SEO!