adVision Marketing

As they tend to do, Google has once again shaken things up with the addition of Google Product listings in their traditional sponsored search results… They’ve apparently been testing this out in beta form for a few weeks now, but today was the first day I personally ran across these unique results on my laptop in Denver. As a retailer trying to make a buck online, what’s this mean to you? Read on to find out…

If you search for a physical product on Google today or this week, you may notice a distinct difference in the layout of their search results. By now, most people searching online have become accustomed to seeing traditional text ads in Google’s search results, not product images. It’s been this way for years, but it looks like change could be on it’s way…

I just did a quick search at Google for a ‘rope hammock’, and although I did see the traditional text ads along the top ‘Sponsored Links’ section of the page, I also saw 3 product images along the top of the right hand ‘Sponsored Links’ column with prices and Retailers names, including my very good friends over at Hammocks.com  :)  Nice job guys!  But this changes the bid landscape entirely! Prior to this ‘Beta Test’, a 3 or 4 ad position would place your ad at the top of the right hand column, arguably one of the best ‘bargain’ positions available. Now, however, with the addition of Google Product images in the Sponsored search results, a 3 or 4 ad position can put you dangerously close to, if not below the fold on the search results page. Not good!

In my opinion this new search results page format simply encourages more competition for the top 3 bid positons as visibility in the 4 to 9, yes 9 not 11, positons have now dropped off completely.  In turn, the cost per click to reside in one of these top positions could increase significantly.  Now, as a retailer, assuming this new format is here to stay, and it may not be, I’d embrace it by putting additional effort into optimizing my Google Product listings immediately for a few very obvious reasons:

1. Google Product listings are now getting more visability than ever before
2. Once your bulk product file is built, it’s easy to update and maintain
3. Google Base is F-R-E-E.  No CPC, No Rev Share, No Advertising Costs.  Free.

From my experiences, Google Base may not change your life, but it can certainly pad the bank account for PPC and other online advertising campaigns. You know you need to stick with PPC, but be cautious when venturing up into the top 3 ad positions as I’m already finding costs in these positions to be getting a bit more compeitive when these new Google Product listings are present. And by all means, if you haven’t yet setup a Google Product bulk file for your inventory, get started on that today.  It could kick your revenue to the next level, or if could sputter in just a few orders a month.  Either way, it will generate revenue for your business, and best of all it’s 100% free.

Maybe change is good after all…

Thanks for listening -

Matt