Product Extensions Keyword Targeting

Google Product Extensions can be activated by a merchant through their Google AdWords account. However, how can a merchant control what is being listed? Currently Google takes an educated guess based on the product content available. For example, if  a consumer does a search for ‘jeans’, Google will use the product data available to populate product listings in the product extensions as seen to the left.

So how can a merchant control this? Well, they can’t totally, but they can heavily influence what is happening by using the “adwords_prefer_for_query” attribute available in their Google Product Search feed. By adding this attribute to all products, and then adding the keyword ‘jeans’ in this example on targeted products, a merchant can instruct Google they want particular products to be found for particular searches. Essentially this takes some of the guess work off Google’s plate and allows product extensions to be better targeted from the merchant side.

Google Product Extensions Tracking

Google also offers additional attributes to help in the tracking where Product Search and AdWords overlap. Currently the product links from an extension ad will default to the links provide by Google Product Search NOT the Google AdWords link. So, by clicking on the products in this Lucky Brand Jeans ad, the link activated will actually be the Google Product Search provided product URL. To better track this ad, additional attributes can be added in the product feed. The ‘adwords_queryparam’ attribute can be used to provide additional tracking parameters to be appended onto the Product Search URL. Or, if a completely different link should be used, then Google can be told to use a redirect link via the “adwords_redirect” attribute. For merchants looking to differentiate the two programs, this will greatly help in tracking the effectiveness of these ads and manipulating to get better performance.

To review these parameters and Google’s overview, visit Updating Merchant Center accounts with product extensions attributes.

http://google.com/insights

Google’s new keyword search tool gives a great view into regional and time based patterns related to search. Using several features (that I am still exploring), you can drill down to see how search popularity has changed by region, worldwide. For those enterprising ecommerce cowboys who are looking to integration worldwide online sales, this should help. For those local business looking to tap into the newly profitable local markets based on rising gas and shipping costs, then you need to take a look too. I encourage anyone who wants to relate trends over time and region to take a look here:

(Click for a larger view)

…Not so fast!

Before assuming some companies are pushing less traffic and less profit to merchants there are some considerations which need to be made.

First the obvious information that can be taken from the graph is that some engines do appear to be seeing a decline in traffic to their main domain. This could be a result of decreased exposure and a declining costumer base. However, there are other points to consider before assuming that is the case.

Quality Traffic

Companies are focusing increasingly on the quality of traffic brought by each click. Online marketing is reaching a point of maturity where even the industry leader, Google, has seen a decline in ad generating clicks. One issue could be seen as a slow down in the market as many companies are seeing a slow down in sales from the economy’s condition and also a maturing marketplace where online purchasing is becoming more commonplace. Put simply, many people are buying online now, bought online before, and we don’t see as many new costumers.

Another point is the increasingly emphasis on the quality of traffic. Ad vendors are looking to focus on quality more than in the past. So networks like Google have recently decreased the available click space in text advertisements to avoid accidental clicks. Similarly, many CSE’s are focusing on weeding out poor quality clicks to merchants. This focus could mean not only decreased clicks being sent to the engines by their own internal marketing staff, but also more highly focused clicks sent to merchants.

Affiliate Networks

Another consideration is the use of affiliate networks by the CSE. As the CSE affiliate network expands, more traffic being sent to the merchant’s product will not be originating at the engine itself. Instead, the CSE will send the product to their affiliates, the affiliates will in turn push clicks to the merchant, and the CSE will still bill for the clicks but the traffic will not show on a graph like this to the CSE’s domain.

That’s why I wrote a recent post about the possible merging of a classical search engine with a classical comparison shopping engine.

What will Google Product Search and Google.com look like when combined? What will search engine marketing look like in a couple years? Maybe this is it:

http://blog.mercent.com/posts/2008/03/when-search-eng.html

The reason is both logical but also as a bit of public service. Let’s start with the logical.

A recent Nielsen Online Survey as seen in InternetRetailer reported that global internet online shoppers have increased 40% in the last two years. Many of the technological hurdles present for many countries are being overcome. Increased bandwidth is making online shopping much easier as can be attested to anyone who remembers switching from dial up to DSL a few years ago. Especially amazing is the United States is only ranked 8th worldwide in terms of adoption of online shopping. Approximately 94% of internet users in the US have made a purchase online, which puts the country behind more online savvy countries like Japan, Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Reaching out to this international population is essential for many businesses as evidenced by recent outreach efforts by computer manufacturers like Dell, to produce low cost units which can be made widely available to populations that traditionally could not have afforded a computer.

For retailers, the greatest hurdle is ensuring accurate payment processing and shipment. The good news is there are many companies working to solve these issues. However, some problems have a way to go, as evidenced in China where many times a payment is made by sending a bicycler to the consumers home to collect funds. Luckily, credit card adoption is catching up in foreign countries as well.

The second reason to push into international business adoption is focused on the general health of the US economy. I am not someone who could be considered a nationalist in any sense, but I do pay attention close enough to know a perpetually worsening trade deficit is hurting the long term prospects of the US economy. When you have leading investors like Warren Buffett leading a push to invest internationally because of poor long term growth here, many should begin to reconsider if we need to begin changing direction.

It’s ridiculous to expect the United States to continue to have such a substantially higher level of wealth compared to the rest of the planet, and equally ridiculous to justify this should be the case. However, I am increasingly concerned the US is in the same state as the Roman Empire, when the wealth of the empire was being spent on foreign and imported consumable goods, resulting in a drain of resources and eventually a hollowing of the entire infrastructure . Of course, as an undergrad in History, I can tell there is a lot more to the story, but the point can be made. The US is in decline and things will get worse unless the country and it’s businesses find more substantial things to offer to the rest of the world besides credit cards, music, and hamburgers.

To ensure the US continues to lead in some fashion, businesses need to be more innovative and offer more creativity than is currently the case. Giants like Microsoft and Google are doing a good job, as are traditional corporations like Walmart. The typical American business should do more as well to lead the way. Especially now as the currency is declining and no longer a benchmark as countries like China cash out by unloading their investments in US currency because of it’s decade long instability. This creates a huge opportunity as devalued US currency means any goods and services offered to the rest of the world will essentially be cheaper to other countries. Now is a golden moment to begin to take your company’s offerings overseas because the Euro, Yen, and Pound will buy so much more.

If you have not thought about expanding recently, then now is the time to develop a plan and put it in motion.

In working on ways to optimize campaigns for clients, I like to look through as many resources as possible and that includes find good information without having to needlessly waste a client’s money. Whether a business owner, decision maker, or fellow manager, I am sure many can appreciate that outlook.

In fulfilling that philosophy with some actionable information, here are some good keyword tools that I have found that give great information for analyzing what content is best used in marketing products. Each provides information in a different format which can prove to be very useful. If you have not already used these, then enjoy!

Google Trends: http://google.com/trends

Google Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

SEO Book: http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/index.php

Trellian Keyword Discovery: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

The main point is that if you are not focused on using Google Adwords and organic search results on Google to build traffic, in many ways the comparison shopping engines and Amazon will do the job for you. Check out more here:

http://blog.mercent.com/posts/2008/02/marketing-using.html

Such is the reason I am trying to understand more and more about world wide trends and patterns as we all grow closer together. For instance, e-commerce in the United Kingdom is simply booming. While the US ticks along at about 20% growth year over year, e-commerce in the UK grew 54% in 2007, as reported by London based IMRG.

This is a substantial gain under any circumstances. As best I understand, the gain in the U.K. is at least partly due to increased connectivity in households allowing for faster and easier connections. If there are other reasons, please feel free to comment as I would love to know more.

As a quick overview, France and Germany showed slower rates of growth (especially Germany which has been impacted by labor strikes). Here are the European online retail leaders for 2007, according to comScore Networks:

United Kingdom
* Amazon sites
* Apple Inc.
* Home Retail Group
* Tesco Stores
* Play.com sites

France:
* Group PPR
* Apple Inc.
* Amazon sites
* Otto Gruppe
* CDiscount.com

Germany
* Otto Gruppe
* Amazon sites
* Arcandor AG
* Apple Inc.
* O2online.de