Google Keeps Testing Shopping Ads (Formerly Product Listing Ads)

Google is known for testing new formats every few months, especially in its shopping ads. What we first covered here as “Product Listing Ads” (PLAs) are now simply called Shopping ads, and the advertising platform once called AdWords is now Google Ads. Looking back at some of Google’s early tests shows how today’s shopping results came about, and what to take from them if you advertise products.

Emojis in product ads: tested, then restricted

Several years ago, advertisers noticed that emojis could show up in their product listing ads, in single color or in full color. They appeared when someone added the emoji directly to the store name or product title in their merchant settings. That window did not last. Google’s advertising policies prohibit repeated or unnecessary use of punctuation, capitalization and symbols, including emoji, in ads and product data, so fun symbols are no longer a reliable way to stand out in Shopping results.

The lesson is simple. Follow the merchant and advertising policies from the start, because a feed that breaks the rules can get products disapproved. If you want personality in your ads, add it to your text ads and creative, within the policy.

The expandable test: more products in one ad unit

One of the most interesting early experiments was an expandable Shopping unit. The standard unit looked like a traditional box of four products at the top of the search results, with a small arrow that expanded it to 16 listings and pushed organic results further down the page. Google did not publish how that specific test performed, but it clearly learned a lot from it. Shopping results have kept getting larger and more visual, with product carousels, ratings, price details and promotions on both desktop and mobile.

For advertisers, the takeaway is that Shopping ads take up more space and attention than they used to, so your product images, titles and prices carry more of the decision.

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Scrollable carousels and ads in image results

Another test placed a scrollable carousel of top products in Google’s image search, which let searchers swipe through products on mobile or click arrows on desktop. The ads looked much like ordinary image results, which led some advertisers to wonder whether searchers knew they were looking at ads. Product ads in image and visual results are now a normal part of Google’s shopping experience, and Google marks them as sponsored.

If you worry about how visual formats affect your results, the answer is the same as it was: keep track of your return on investment closely, by product and by campaign.

What today’s shopping ads look like

Shopping ads now run in the Shopping tab, in search results and on other Google surfaces, and many advertisers manage them through automated campaign types such as Performance Max, which choose placements for you. Free product listings also let merchants appear in Shopping results without paying for clicks. All of it depends on the product data in your Google Merchant Center feed.

That makes feed quality the most important lever you have. Use accurate titles that include what shoppers search for, clear and compliant images, correct prices and availability, and complete product attributes.

Stay on top of the changes

Google will keep testing, and what works today may change next quarter. Review your reports, watch for platform announcements and test changes one at a time. If you would like help with your shopping campaigns, our Google Ads management team can help you build and optimize them.