Optimise AdWords Campaigns for Local Search
Many customers shop online and many plan shopping trips online. Often during a shopping trip customers will take out their phone to search for the location of a particular store in pursuit of a specific product, or an in-store exclusive.
Search users are more likely to visit a store if they can see that a store has the product in stock. This is true whether researching a shopping trip on a desktop PC or a last minute search from a smartphone during a shopping trip. Recent Google research identified that 75% of shoppers plan to use their smartphone in store this festive season.
Previously shoppers were educated by sales assistants once they entered the store, now they are educating themselves by finding information and product reviews online.
It is increasingly likely that customers will come into contact with a product online, before physically buying the product. Appearing in search results, with the right information, could be enough to influence the 45% that prefer to complete a purchase in store.
Utilise Local Search to Drive Foot Traffic in Store
Particularly in the lead up to Christmas, retailers will be keen to attract more consumers in store. Increase the likelihood of this by utilising Google search to show available stock inventory to local search users.
To optimise your AdWords campaigns to appear in local search results, you must submit four feeds:
- Online Products – Submit your Google Shopping listings for online products to your Merchant Centre account
- Verify Locations – Review your Google My Business profile to ensure that your location information is accurate and up to date. For more information on how to link your profile to your AdWords account, click here
- Local Products Feed – Review your local product feed to ensure that it complies with standard specifications. This feed will be linked to the product inventory feed via the ‘itemid’ attribute, and Google My Business via the ‘store code’ attribute. Submit to your Merchant Centre account.
- Product Inventory – Once the item and store have been identified, you must provide price and availability information. Submit to your Merchant Centre account.
The information provided in these four feeds must be matched to each other. This table highlights how the feeds interconnect:
Local inventory ads are an excellent opportunity for retailers to direct traffic to their closest physical store, with information on price, availability and store location.
Especially in the build up to Christmas, it is important to remember that customers are increasingly researching and planning their shopping trips online before heading out on foot for the festive shop.
If you would like more information on promoting your products on local search in the lead up to the festive season, or if you would like advice on submitting the required product feeds, contact us to see how we can optimise your AdWords campaigns.
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