Take advantage of Merchant Promotions in Google Merchant Center (GMC) regularly and especially on peak shopping days like Black Friday. Find out how to enhance your Google Shopping Ads with our guide on how to create Google Merchant promotions.
Before you keep reading this article first check if your country is eligible to use Merchant Promotions.
Which countries have access to create Google Merchant Promotions for PLA campaigns?
Merchant Promotions are currently available in:
- Australia
- France
- Germany
- India
- United Kingdom
- US
- Canada
Why are retailers in these countries taking advantage of Merchant Promotions for their Google PLA campaigns? SEM Rush has published data that in many countries around the time of Black Friday, people’s online search behavior changes and it’s all about the deals.
Consumer interest in Black Friday is consistently increasing every year. When we compare YoY global searches (2019 vs. 2020), there is a 14% growth of interest for the discount period. In countries where Black Friday has traditionally played a significant role within the retail space, the growth numbers are even higher, with Brazil, Australia, and the US leading the way.
What does a Google Merchant Center Promotion look like?
A Merchant Promotion provides more visibility to your Google Shopping Ads by adding the text “Special Offer” to your product listings. As you roll over the special offer text you’ll see a pop-up box. The video below shows what a promotion could look like including a call-to-action, description, expiry, and potential promo code.
How do you create a Google Merchant Center Promotion?
To create a promotion you first need a Google Merchant Center (GMC) shopping feed. If you have this feed and a GMC account then you need to fill out a Merchant Promotions Interest Form.
It is a fairly short form with the following message at the top.
Once you get the ok from Google to start your Merchant Promotions there are two ways to go about it.
Option 1: Google Promotions Tool
Once you’ve selected Merchant Promotions in your GMC account and added a promotion, the next step is finding the right category.
Google states that GMC Promotions Builder offers 4 categories to choose from:
- Amount off: Offer a monetary discount for your items
- Percent off: Offer a percentage discount for your items
- Free gift: Offer a free gift based on an item purchase or amount spent
- Free shipping: Offer free shipping based on an item purchase or amount spent
Update your promotion by choosing your spend thresholds, the discount, gift descriptions, and more. The tool is very straightforward once you choose your category.
Option 2: Promotions Feed
If you are submitting a high volume of promotions to GMC a Promotions Feed containing all of your promotions could help to streamline the submission process.
A .txt file, .xml file, or Google Sheets are acceptable formats for your promotions feed.
Once your feed is ready you’ll need to submit it to GMC in this location. To make sure your feed is always updated we typically select “Scheduled Fetch”.
Next Steps
Review the specific details of your Google Promotions as you decide what products you want to include. Google has strict criteria for what they allow.
Promotions criteria include:
- Limited for a 6-month time period
- Redeemable at check-out or time of purchase
- Compliant with policies and editorial requirements
If your feed doesn’t meet Google’s technical requirements, policies, or editorial guidelines it could prolong the approval of your promotions. Start the submission process as early as possible to ensure your promotions are approved.
Highstreet.io helps clients to optimize their product data feeds by adding the required information so their ads display the right content to the right person at the right time. We are experienced with the management of promotions by extending our managed feeds with rule-based promotion ids.
Get your store and products found locally with a full-service feed management provider/service.
Contact Us to set up your Google Promotion Feeds today.
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