3-Step User Guide to Getting Started With Google Shopping Campaigns

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the new changes and functionalities you can expect from Google Shopping campaigns, it’s time to nail down where to start in your transition prior to the August rollout.

The first thing to note is that regardless of how an advertiser’s existing PLA campaigns are set up today, there are several steps that they will need to take to migrate these campaigns over to the new Shopping campaigns in a smooth and seamless manner. Here’s where to start:

1. 1. Inside AdWords, select Shopping under the Campaigns tab on the menu.
2. 2. Following the on-screen instructions, set a default bid and a daily advertising budget.
3. 3. Next, pause the current equivalent PLA campaign to prevent running any duplicate campaigns.

Once Google Shopping campaigns are up and running, advertisers should monitor and analyze performance metrics to ensure that they are getting their desired results. These performance metrics should also be used to determine how to best optimize their campaigns going forward.

While the features of Google Shopping campaigns are aimed at providing advertisers with an improved and more streamlined user experience, you should also be aware of the changes that have been made to some existing functionality with the same objectives in mind. Below is a rundown of what’s changed:

• Use of product groups instead of product targets for campaign organization: With the changeover to product groups, advertisers can now subdivide a product group into more specific categories. Shopping campaigns will automatically upload products from an advertiser’s product feed into an “all products” group. For campaigns, advertisers can then subdivide products into product group categories that are predefined by the product attribute data. Campaign performance can now also be viewed by different product attributes.
• “AdWords grouping” and “AdWords labels” will be replaced by custom labels: Advertisers currently using the “AdWords grouping” or “AdWords label” attribute in their PLA campaigns will need to create a new custom label or use an existing product attribute to replace the old attribute. In an effort to provide consistency across all products in the Merchant Center, for all new campaigns, advertisers will need to use one of five custom labels when they want to group products by something other than a product attribute. Custom labels, found under the subdivide menu accessible in the product groups tab, will allow advertisers to categorize their products in meaningful ways that were not possible before.

Now that you’re armed with the tools to begin making this transition, be sure to stay tuned for tips on how to get the most out of your Google Shopping campaigns once you’ve gotten started.