The Ever-Changing Platform

Consistent and constant change is what we have come to count on when it comes to online advertising. It’s an ever changing platform that we are trying to keep pace with. Some of the most recent changes, specifically on Google, have directly impacted the amount of advertising real estate your company has on the search engine results page (SERP). Organic results have been pushed further down the page, and fewer ad positions are available per page. However, we have another strategy to maintain your position on the first page and visibly show why searchers should choose you. Product Listing Ads.

What Are Product Listing Ads (PLA’s)

PLA’s are the image ads that feature your product, price, a brief description and they live within the Google Shopping Network. As we move forward, people are intrinsically attracted to more image based platforms. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram play huge roles in a buyer’s shopping habits, so why shouldn’t your search results also compete in this way as well. Now it does, with PLA’s, we can put the exact product a searcher is looking for right in front of them, with the price.

How Do PLA’s Work?

There are two phases to implementing PLA’s. The first step is to set up a product feed that we can connect to your inventory and push out in the format that Google prefers. The feed includes: product image, titles and descriptions, colors, price and any special offer you might want to include.

The second step is the shopping campaign itself, which is managed with the AdWords platform. After the product feed is connected through the Google Merchant Center, we can determine where to target and set our campaign budgets and bids.

Why Use PLA’s?

Simply stated, they are extremely cost effective and they take up more space in the search results. At GravityFree we reviewed client performance over a 4 month period and found that the cost-per-click is typically under a dollar. That is in most cases less than a click for a specific keyword search.

Key Benefits to Utilizing PLA’s

• Lower average cost
• Images of bouquets are enticing to potential buyers
• Information such as price and description are also shown
• More real estate in the SERP
• Customers are more likely to purchase

Overall, PLA’s are a great way to get your products in front of customers at a low cost. If you are a current GravityFree client and would like to discuss PLA’s as a strategy for your PPC campaign, please reach out to our team and we would be happy to discuss it further.