About 50 percent of online shoppers turn to images of the product when looking for something and it inspires them to purchase, and more and more turn to Google Images. That’s the reason Google recently announced it is introducing a new way for retailers to promote products in image search with shoppable ads.
Capturing top of funnel shoppers
Today’s consumers are interacting with Google across a multitude of touchpoints, searching and asking for ideas. To help inspire them, the search giant is continually thinking of ways to create better shopping experiences and help consumers in moments that will drive them to the final purchase.
The search giant announced it is testing a new ad format called shoppable ads on Google Images. This type of ad will enable you to highlight multiple items available for sale and they will appear within Google Images results.
For the moment, the test involves a small percentage of traffic with select retailers for queries such as “home office ideas”, “shower tile designs” and “abstract art,”.
Offering the ad format within Google Images enables you as a brand to offer your users a Pinterest-like experience within an area that the search giant says is a growing part of consumers’ shopping experiences.
Google Shoppable Ads
Using Google’s shoppable ads will enable you to appear in image search results with a “Sponsored” label as well as a price tag icon. Hovering over the price tag icon will reveal the prices of the items, along with your brand name and other information. Users can click on the product of choice to visit your product page and make a purchase.
Shoppable ads on Google Images are currently being tested on a small percentage of traffic with select retailers. Google plans to roll this ad unit out to more categories across more retailers over the next few months.
Expanding Showcase Shopping
The company also announced that Showcase Shopping ads would be coming to Google Images, allowing a richer product presentation for your brand. Showcase Shopping ads enable advertisers to combine lifestyle and product images in a single ad that Google displays in paid search results for specific keyword searches.
Showcase Shopping ads, which appear in regular search results, will now be displayed in image search results as well.
Why you should care
Google is trying to help brands and product sellers reach consumers in more ways during discovery rather than just lower-funnel search queries.
This is what Instagram and Pinterest do particularly well. It’s also trying to make Google itself a richer visual shopping destination and offer more inspiration and product discovery experiences.