According to Statista, in July 2022, Google held 83,84% of the Ad Market Share, making it the Leader in Search Engine Advertising. 

With 70k Google Searches occurring every second, Google is also the most popular search engine globally.

It would be insane to not use Google as one of your advertising platforms in light of these astounding figures, right?

The trick is recognizing and incorporating all of Google Ads for eCommerce's features into a well-optimized marketing plan that sends relevant & intent-filled traffic to your online business. traffic that is effective.

This blog will offer you an understanding of how Google works, the prerequisites to have and key best practices as well to help you make the most of Google Ads in 2023.

Let’s start off by addressing the basics.

How do Google Ads Work?

Google Adwords is an internet advertising platform where you can place bids to have your company's ads displayed.

These can be brief product descriptions, advertising, or films that are shown to online viewers.

You can run advertisements with Google Ads across partner websites, mobile apps, and YouTube videos in addition to the results page of Google.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is used in Google Ads Campaigns, also referred to as AdWords campaigns. You must compete with other marketers bidding for the same term on Google by placing a bid for that keyword.
Google offers you 3 bidding options to choose from:

Cost-per-click (CPC)

CPC is the amount you bid and the amount you pay each time a user clicks on your advertisement while conducting a Google search.

‍Cost-per-mille (CPM)

CPM is the amount you will spend for every 1,000 ad impressions.

‍Cost-per-engagement (CPE)

CPE is the cost you incur when a user performs a specific action (watch a video, subscribe to a list, or any other interactions you need).

You can also use manual CPC bidding and set a daily budget for your advertisement. As a result, you have control over how much money you spend on Google Ads overall.

Manual CPC enables you to test out various campaigns and have a better understanding of how much it costs to advertise your company on Google and receive positive results.

Your Quality Score plays a role in where the Ad appears in the search results area in addition to your bids.

Google assigns your ad a quality score after considering the following factors:

The Quality Score is the score Google gives to your Ad after assessing:

• the quality of your ads
• the keywords you used,
• your previous performance
• the CTR of your Ads 
• the landing page

The score can range from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest possible score.

Must-Have Prerequisites Before Building a Google Ads Campaign

You must absolutely refrain from using Google Ads till the time you have the following aspects figured out to the T.

Decent monthly spend

Early on, consider your monthly spending plan as an investment.

You are purchasing data because you require it in order to quickly identify what aspects of your campaign are effective and where adjustments should be made.

With that investment, Google will start to develop a dedicated audience for you, which you can then use to your advantage. It will be worthwhile, too! To gather enough precise data for future testing and optimization, you *must* have a sufficient monthly ad budget.

Google is a learning algorithm. Your campaigns' initial three months will be the most "difficult" period. Which gets us to our following prerequisite:

Appropriate time expectations

It bears repeating that Google is a learning machine. And learning takes time. In fact, we’re asking Google to do some pretty spectacular behavioral analysis.

In the past, we used 90 days as our benchmark for when a campaign was fully optimised and ready to start producing results.

This meant that after 90 days, we would have accumulated enough information to assess the campaign's long-term effectiveness.

But since Performance Max was released, the 90-day recommendation is no longer valid. Instead, it takes about 45 days to determine the viability of what you've developed.

In essence, Day 46 has become Day 0.

You may begin to understand how the foundation you lay will function over time once Google has gathered and evaluated all the relevant data.

Simply put, positioning a campaign for scalability and properly optimising it takes time. Being patient throughout that first learning phase, however, typically pays off in the long term.

A Quality website

Although it may seem obvious, but this is critical and often not paid a lot of attent.on to 

Prospective clients will be directed to your website by your adverts. Consequently, you require a user-friendly, engaging website.

You see, we are in the era of the knowledgeable consumer. The era of the click-to-convert model is long gone.

Website users seek value.

They desire education.

They seek a sense of connection and comprehension.

Your website should be jam-packed with quilt-related information that highlights your products, educational resources, and easily accessible answers to frequently asked questions—all on a quick and simple to use website.

SEO and high-quality content have never been more crucial, especially with Performance Max in the mix, a campaign-type with larger reach and a better capacity to learn from your site.

This is why you need more than a single page website. You need to help them get to know your product and who you are.

Sufficient margins to fund a traffic campaign

Ad running costs money. Can these efforts be supported by your profit margins?

You see, even if you sell $2 things, your campaigns might not be lucrative even with a 100% profit margin.

Unless your cart value is greater than the starting price.

To put it another way, if your products aren't priced high enough (with a profit margin to match it), you'll have to rely on buyers adding more items to their carts than just the one marketed item (i.e. more bang for your advertising buck).

Unique selling proposition

What makes you stand out from the competition? What distinguishes your business or product from the competition? Are questions you need answers to before starting out.

It will be increasingly difficult to make money from Google Ads the more saturated your market is. What makes you unique, then?

And *DRUM ROLL* Being the least expensive choice isn't the solution,

What makes your favourite products your favourites, in your opinion? Is it the reputable return policy of the business? the product's quality? the substances employed?

Your campaigns' lifespan and return visitors depend heavily on your campaigns' unique selling proposition. After all, selling to a current customer is six times less expensive than finding a new one.

Defined Customer Profiles & Assets

You must have a profound understanding of the individuals you sell to. Who are they? Who lives there? Do they read anything? What are they aiming for? What are the aches and pains? Customer profiles are created to accomplish this (avatars).

Many business managers now consider demographics rather than avatars when making decisions.

Here's the difference:

A demography is an overarching description of your client base (physicians, for example).

The subtype of consumer who belongs to your bigger demography is known as an avatar.

This demography might thus be readily divided into two quite different avatars using the physician example:

Dr. Kyle is a successful older doctor in his late 50s to early 60s who is anti-technology and considering retiring.

Dr. Kate is a young physician who just graduated from medical school. She is in debt but is eager to start her own practise and has a strong background in technology.

This demonstrates how radically dissimilar these two avatars are despite belonging to the same demographic.

This all means to say: Be detailed in your consumer profiles.

Once you have your avatars clearly defined, you’ll need assets (photos, videos, and copy) specifically catered to these audiences once you start building your Performance Max campaigns.

You can read more about creating & leveraging Customer Avatars/Personas here.

Average Order Values that are enough to support paid traffic campaigns

Costs per click, or CPCs, are always rising.

If your average CPC is $1 and your product costs $20, you'll need an absurdly high conversion rate of over 10% to break even.

(If you receive 15 clicks, you have already paid for the item.)

A higher average order value (nearer to $50–$60) allows your campaign some leeway for more clicks or conversions while still enabling you to make some money—without needing absurdly high conversion rates of 10–20%.

An up-to-date Data Feed

Product feeds make or break the ad campaign for eCommerce businesses.

Prices fluctuate.

Items sell out.

New fashion trends are unveiled.

Additionally, maintaining your products to date has a direct impact on how well your campaign does.

This includes:

• Product names
• Prices
• Images
• Product ID
• Descriptions
• Attributes

What are the best types of Google Ads to leverage for eCommerce in 2023?

Yes, all Google Ad types have a lot of potential and can help your business achieve its goals. However, the information from the first two years of the epidemic, when eCommerce soared, can assist us suggest the must-have eCommerce ads.

‍Shopping ad campaigns

According to the most recent studies, Google Shopping Advertising outperforms regular text ads in terms of CR and CPC by 26% and 23%, respectively.

And when you consider the rationale behind it, it makes sense. A user already has a purchase intention if he searches for shopping lists or products.

Advertising to consumers who are already interested in your products while using a shopping ad should make conversion easier.

Smart Shopping Ad Campaigns.

Product shopping and display remarketing ads are combined in smart Google Shopping Ad campaigns.

Smart purchasing Ad campaigns might put your mind at ease if you're unsure of your Google Ads abilities. These advertisements heavily rely on machine learning to select and provide the best aspects for your advertisements and produce superior outcomes.

Google examines the graphics and copy you supply with Smart Campaigns to identify the most effective text and image combinations.

Note: Google Ads Performance Max took the place of Smart Shopping and Local campaigns as of July 2022. Furthermore, Google just introduced swipeable Shopping ads, which will be made available for PMax and Search campaigns later this year.

Remarketing Ad Campaigns.

Google remarketing ads will let you particularly target those prior website visitors if Shopping Ads let you target people with strong purchase intent.

Remarketing performs admirably in both the acquisition and retention phases of eCommerce Google Ads.

Remarketing Ads also work for retention and getting more value from your existing customers. 

Plus, if your marketing strategy contains up-selling or cross-selling campaigns, you can use remarketing ads to push complementary products to your existing customers.  ‍

Google Display Network

Another essential Adwords campaign type for your marketing plan is Google Display Ads. These are image and text advertising that show up as an image or block display ad on websites that are not Google Partners. Your display ad campaigns assist you in reaching customers who are interested in niche-related material and are best suited for visually appealing products and awareness-building.

YouTube Ads

The next crucial component of your eCommerce Google Ads marketing approach is YouTube ads. You can experiment with different YouTube ad formats to build your online store's brand. These consist of:‍

TrueView Ads

Best for driving site traffic and increasing video engagement, TrueView ads are skippable video ads that play before other video content. 

Discovery TrueView Ads 

Displaying related YouTube videos in search pages, Discovery TrueView ads are ideal for driving viewers to video content/site.

Bumper Ads

Bumper ads are short, six-second ads that are unskippable. 

Non-Skippable YouTube Ads 

Longer than bumper ads, non-skippable ads are 15-20 seconds long and play before video content.

Outstream Ads

Mobile-only outstream ads show on partner websites and apps. 

You can read more about the types of YouTube ads here

Teal Tip - It's not difficult to make YouTube ads that convert. Make sure to make a strong impact in the initial five seconds, establish a connection with the viewer, employ subtitles, and give your video thumbnails your best effort.

Google Gallery Ads

The latest Google ad type worth mentioning is the upcoming Gallery ads. Already in beta testing, Gallery ads will combine the power of Search and visuals. So stay tuned – these are going to be a real game-changer. You can read about these in more detail here.

Key Takeaways

Running Google Ads is an effective way to drive traffic and increase sales for your ecommerce business. However, with the ever-evolving landscape of Google Ads, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices. Below are some tips and best practices for running Google Ads for ecommerce in 2023.

Use Audience Targeting

One of the best ways to improve the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns is by using audience targeting. This means targeting specific groups of people based on their interests, behaviors, and demographics. Here are some tips for effective audience targeting:

• Use Google Analytics to identify your top-performing audience segments.
• Create custom audiences based on past customer behavior, such as purchase history or abandoned carts.
• Use in-market audiences to target people who are actively searching for products similar to yours.
• Consider creating lookalike audiences to target people who are similar to your existing customers.

Optimize Your Product Feed

Your product feed is the backbone of your Google Ads campaigns. It's important to ensure that your product feed is optimized to maximize the performance of your ads. Here are some tips for optimizing your product feed:

• Use high-quality images that showcase your products.
• Include detailed and accurate product descriptions.
• Use relevant keywords in your product titles and descriptions.
• Use structured data to provide more information about your products, such as price, availability, and ratings.

Use Dynamic Remarketing

Dynamic remarketing is a powerful tool for ecommerce businesses that allows you to show ads to people who have previously interacted with your website or products. Here are some tips for using dynamic remarketing:

• Use Google Analytics to identify your top-performing product pages.
• Create dynamic remarketing ads that showcase the products people have previously viewed.
• Use custom messaging and incentives to encourage people to complete their purchase.
• Consider using dynamic remarketing for cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns

One of the keys to success with Google Ads is monitoring and optimizing your campaigns regularly. Here are some tips for monitoring and optimizing your campaigns:

• Use conversion tracking to measure the success of your campaigns.
• Regularly review your ad copy, targeting, and bidding strategies to identify areas for improvement.
• Use A/B testing to test different ad variations and landing pages.
• Adjust your bids based on performance data to maximize your return on ad spend.

In Conclusion, Running Google Ads for ecommerce can be a powerful way to drive traffic and increase sales. By using audience targeting, optimizing your product feed, using dynamic remarketing, and monitoring and optimizing your campaigns, you can create effective Google Ads campaigns that drive results for your business. Remember to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices to stay ahead of the competition.

‍