How To Setup The New Google AdWords Product Listing Ads

Google has been testing Product Listing Ads for over a year with select *lucky* advertisers. This past week Google has rolled out this feature to all AdWords advertisers. In other words, we are all lucky now.

For some reason, the setup process does not seem very straight-forward. Here is a quick guide on how to set up Product Listing Ads.

Step 1 – Connect Google Merchant Center To Your Campaign

About a year ago, Google released AdWords Product Extensions, where related products are displayed under your ad in a PlusBox. Setting this up is the first step towards getting Product Listing Ads up and running.

You will need to goto the Ad Extesnsions tab in your campaign, and select Product Extensions from the drop down list. Then click on New Extension and check off your Merchant Center account which should show up.

Once this is done, your ads will start displaying with a PlusBox and related products under it on Google.com.

Step 2 – Create Product Targeting On The Ad Group Level

Now that your campaign is connected to your Merchant Center account, you need to select product targeting in the new Auto Targets tab. Click the Add Product Target button and select all products or a subset of your products using the filters. TIP: These product filters look for an exact match only and will give you the ability to validate the results.

Step 3 – Create A Product Listing Ad Type

The next and final step is to create a new Product Listing Ad in the Ads tab of your Ad Group. click the New Ad button and select Product Listing Ad.

You will then be given the option to fill in promo text and save the ad:

That’s all. You’re done… You should start seeing your products displayed on the top right of the Google SERPs for related terms.

For extra credit, you can watch this Google video explaining product ads.

Comments (5)

  1. Benny:

    We have added the adword information onto the our google merchant center account. But we are not able to find the the “Product extension” under the tab “Ad extension”. What should I do? Is it so called “Not connected”? Thanks and hope someone can answer us. Have a good day and happy new year.

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