Shopping ads have muscled in on search ads territory in a big way. Search Engine Land reports that 60 percent of Google ads clicks now go to a shopping ad rather than to a text ad. Once you look at the ways that this ad category outperforms search ads, it makes perfect sense to invest your ad budget in this area.

Generate More Qualified Traffic

The style and price of your products are displayed prominently on shopping ads. You end up screening for the people who have some level of interest in this item. This qualified traffic is more likely to make a purchase, as they’re already invested enough to click on it.

Qualified traffic allows you to spend your advertising budget more efficiently. Since you’re eliminating people who have zero interest in that product, you narrow your traffic pool down to those who have a strong intent to buy. While you get a lower number of visitors overall, you end up with greater productivity.

Capture Consumer Attention

Text ads are powerful in their own way, but visual ads have the advantage of being immediately eye-catching. When you’re trying to stand out in an overcrowded market, taking full advantage of all forms of media becomes necessary.

You can test different types of visuals to see which product photos get the best responses. Use this information to optimize your product listings and improve your conversion rate.

More Opportunity for Screen Time

Shopping ads can show up multiple times for one query. Even if a potential customer doesn’t click on the product the first time they see it, they may end up doing so after seeing it more than once. This feature works particularly well for improved awareness of your brand and product lines.

Expand to Related Keywords

You have the opportunity to reach a larger audience through related keyword searches. You may not realize the opportunities that are available by expanding your potential customer pool. In addition to getting more clicks, the response of these related audiences may drive new product development and horizontal growth.

Discover New Customers

Shopping ads act as a prospecting channel. You can find new customers and ideally convert them to loyal buyers with a high lifetime value. This advertising channel works well when you want to test out new markets and see their response rates to your offerings.

Shopping ads are taking over for plenty of good reasons. Whether you want to pre-qualify your traffic before they go to your product listings or discover new sources of valuable customers, shopping campaigns give you what you need.