How to Effectively Target Search Queries in Google Shopping Campaigns
Isolating Key Search Term Cohorts & Exploiting Their Value in Google Shopping Campaigns
Logistics
Session Recording Will Be Sent out Tomorrow Morning
Q&A Throughout the Presentation
Submit Questions In the Chat Box to the Right
Resources In the Handouts Section to the Right
Today’s Resources
OVERVIEW
• Founded in 2007
• Recognized as an Official Google Shopping Partner
• 300+ Active Retail Clients
• Top 50 fastest growing company in San Diego 3 years
CLIENTS
SOLUTIONS
• Retail-focused Paid Search (PPC)
• Google Shopping Management
• Shopping Channel Management
• Amazon Sales Acceleration
About CPC Strategy
The CAPx Shopping PlatformProgrammatic Bidding & Management Software
for Google Shopping Advertisers
What is The CAPx Shopping Platform?
• A Programmatic Approach to Google Shopping Management
• Product Feed Optimizer – Product Title Changes
• Efficient Custom Label Management
• Granular Programmatic Bidding Rules
cpcstrategy.com/CAPx-Shopping-Platform/
Upcoming CPC Strategy Events
June 22nd 11am-12pm (PST)
Register: Link in Chat Box
Today’s Speakers
Jason BellSenior Retail Search Manager
Lewis BrannonSenior Paid Media Manager
Q&A Overview
•Google Shopping | Challenges of The Modern Day Google Advertiser
•ISO campaign search query targeting – What are ISO campaigns?
•Use Cases & Applications
•Live Q&A
Poll For The Audience…
Are you currently targeting search terms for Google Shopping campaigns?
A. Yes
B. No
C. That’s not possible...
Google Shopping | Challenges of The Modern Day Google Advertiser
Lack of keyword targeting capability makes Shopping targeting traditionally difficult
● No KWs● No Match Types● No KW groups
Google algorithm has most of the control over which items to show, based on feed data
● Example Feed (left)● Feed attribs are powerful...● ..But Not Powerful Enough
Lack of Segmentation Creates Inefficiency
● One Campaign ● One Budget ● One Bucket (and all your eggs)
The SERP Showdown - Text Ads vs. Shopping - Which is More Relevant for Categorical Searches?
TEXT ADS● Specific Ad Copy per
Search● Utilization of Sitelinks to
highlight Products
SHOPPING● Product Images● Product Reviews● Relevant Items
BOTTOM LINE● Both can be effective● Both can be relevant● Usually Shopping wins if
product / query segmentation is on-point
ISO campaign search query targeting –What are ISO campaigns?
What is ISO and why is it so important?
ISO Strategy – [Exact] or “Phrase” match targeting
What is it?
• Ability to target an exact keyword or phrase within Google Shopping w/o the need of a daily negative
keyword addition (ie: SQO Strategy)
• Shifting focus away from only product-level performance to search query performance
How is it accomplished?
• Through the use of both the campaign priority settings and negative keyword sculpting
Pros?
• Target high or low value queries
• Better control the product mix for these queries on the SERP
• Control spend/bids on the search query level and not only the product level
Cons?
• Potential overexposure of specific products which can lead to lower overall CTR for a given search
query
• Limiting of traffic on Shopping tab if not careful
"Isolation Strategy" (ISO) how to set up using priority settings / negatives
The Setup
In a nutshell…
• You want your more targeted traffic to actually be housed in your lower priority
campaigns
• Use negatives in your higher priority campaigns to funnel either the [exact] match or
“phrase” match queries into your lower priority campaigns
• If multiple ISO campaigns are created, be sure to exclude their [exact] or “phrase”
queries from each other as well
▪ Pro-Tip: typically I use negatives lists for each ISO campaign I create to make it easy to wrap
my head around where these lists should be applied
▪ Catch All / Broad / Explorer – High Priority: because of high priority, this will catch all
traffic from queries that are not added as negatives
▪ Medium Priority: can be use to capture “phrase” match queries or groups of queries
that perform decent but not well-enough to warrant an exact [ISO] campaign
▪ ISO / Exact – Low Priority: Our actual ISO campaign, in this example used to target
queries which include our brand name
"Isolation Strategy" (ISO) how to set up using priority settings / negatives
The Setup cont.
Further Explanation
• Think of it instead from the most targeted campaigns to the least targeted campaigns instead of highest
priority to lowest priority – it’s backwards
• Our most targeted campaign (Bottom of the funnel) is the lowest priority
• Followed by our Middle of the funnel campaign
• Lastly by our Top of the funnel campaign which receives the highest priority
Why?
• It comes down to how the priority settings are used
• Google’s Priority Settings information page can be found here
The key is, that the highest priority campaign will bid unless there is something holding the higher
priority campaigns from bidding. We force negatives to remove the higher priority campaigns from
the ability to bid on these specific search queries.
If you were to structure the priority settings opposite of what I have laid out, you will need to constantly
monitor negative keywords in your highest priority campaigns.
Questions for the Experts?Submit your questions in the chat box on the right
www.CPCStrategy.com | 619.501.6138 | [email protected]
cpcstrategy.com/retail-search-audit/
Schedule A Free 60 min. Retail Search Evaluation
Use Cases & Alternate Structures
The Green ISO Strategy
Isolate to Boost [Green] - Overview
Impression Share Targeting / SERP Ownership
•Targeting very high impression share (90%+) on specific key terms
CAMPAIGNPRIORITY SETTING
Isolate to Boost [Green] - The Set Up
● Best Performing Queries Go in Low Priority Campaign (Green)
● Priority Must Always Be Lower Than Red Campaign
● Quick ROAS Boost● Control Poor Cost● Analagous to Broad vs.
Exact Text Ad Campaigns
Isolate to Boost [Green] - Results
Results From Green ISO Strategy Test
Background Info
• Goal - Increase & Monitor Impression Share on Top Performing Queries
• Push For More Offline Engagement (Phone Calls) on These Terms
• Control Product Mix On Top Terms
• Tested In Waves To Monitor Overall Impact on Business & Lessen Risk
• Unable to See Impression Share on Terms Prior - Tough To Monitor Performance Increase
Learnings
• Increased Ability to Dominate a SERP
• Easily Monitor Competitor Performance & React Accordingly
• Recommended When Looking to Dominate SERP on High Relevant Terms
• Can Lead to Lower CTR if New Products are Introduced - Thus Leading to Higher CPCs
Questions for the Experts?Submit your questions in the chat box on the right
www.CPCStrategy.com | 619.501.6138 | [email protected]
cpcstrategy.com/retail-search-audit/
Schedule A Free 60 min. Retail Search Evaluation
The Red ISO Strategy
Isolate to Throttle Quick ROAS Gain [Red] - Overview
Improve ROI on poor performing queries
• Grouping of poor performing keywords into a single campaign where the average bid will be lower
Isolate to Throttle Quick ROAS Gain [Red] - The Set Up
Value Behind Red ISO
• Test this out on some of your poorest performing search terms. Include some of the terms that you have previously
added as negatives (unless they are totally irrelevant)
• Idea is to re-introduce these search queries into a separate campaign with lower bids than the queries had
previously. I recommend keeping bid levels around half of what your current average Max CPC bids are (not avg. cpc)
Isolate to Throttle Quick ROAS Gain [Red] - Results
Results From Red ISO Strategy Test
30 Days Before & After Results
• Cost down 66%
• Avg. CPC down 73%
• ROAS up 370%
• I am only concerned with my main metrics of testing during this test due to the introduction of previous
negative keywords which could skew click and overall order totals
• One main difference is that I also allowed ALL products to be available for this campaigns where as in
other campaigns I may have bid down or suppressed specific products. Here, I am focused on the query
level and not necessarily the product level.
• These numbers can still be a bit misleading but performance improvement is clearly visible and we will be
continuing to add search queries which are not profitable but still relevant to this campaign to further
testing.
Questions for the Experts?Submit your questions in the chat box on the right
www.CPCStrategy.com | 619.501.6138 | [email protected]
cpcstrategy.com/retail-search-audit/
Schedule A Free 60 min. Retail Search Evaluation
The DaBS ISO Strategy
Separate Brand From Non-Brand [DABs] - Overview
Brand vs Non-Brand + Desktop vs Mobile
○Clean Segmentation of Branded Searches from Non-Branded
○Own more of the SERP on branded searches
○Allow for better attribution
○Use Path Reports
Separate Brand From Non-Brand [DABs] - The Set Up
Value Behind DaBS
• It is easy enough to create a Brand vs Non-Brand breakout without using ISO/priority settings.
• This is used for the ability to break out Brand vs Non-Branded while simultaneously splitting out your Desktop vs
Mobile traffic
Separate Brand From Non-Brand [DABs] - Results
Results From DaBS ISO Strategy TestTest Results
* Large Athletic Apparel Vertical / Brand Manufacturer
● 28% ROAS improvement across all Shopping campaigns
● 36% Conversion Rate improvement
● 30% lift in branded impression share
Client Case Studies
Client Case Studies: www.cpcstrategy.com/clients/
Poll For The Audience…
Are you interested in test driving the CAPx platform and/or talk about your
Google Shopping Strategy?
A. Yes, please
B. No, thank you
Questions for the Experts?Submit your questions in the chat box on the right
www.CPCStrategy.com | 619.501.6138 | [email protected]
cpcstrategy.com/retail-search-audit/
Schedule A Free 60 min. Retail Search Evaluation