TPE #107: 9 conversion-boosting Feed Optimization Hacks

Read time: 6 minutes

GM, Miles here with The PPC Edge! :)

If you’re running Shopping and/or Performance Max campaigns for Ecommerce clients, you know that your product feed has a huge impact on results.

But most Google Ads Specialists don’t spend enough time optimizing their feeds, which leads to suboptimal results.

So today, I’m sharing 9 conversion-boosting feed optimization hacks you can implement to improve your Shopping & pMax results today.

Let’s dive right in!

 

The impact of an optimized feed: conversions +21% & clicks +62%.

I’ve optimized many feeds in the past. A year ago, I posted the results of one of my accounts on LinkedIn (way more traffic and conversions with similar efficiency):

• +69% impressions
• +62% clicks
• +21 conversions
• -1% ROAS

The worse your product feed, the more impact you can make!

 

I wish I still had access to that account to grab screenshots of the performance increases and proof… But you’re gonna have to trust me on this one :).

 

Here are 9 conversion-boosting Feed Optimization Hacks you can implement today to start improving your Shopping & Performance Max results:

1. Start with the most important attributes (80/20).
2. Write for humans, but also for the machine.
3. Use competitive pricing & promotions.
4. Frontload the most important keywords in your titles.
5. Add important keywords at the end of your descriptions.
6. Stand out with optional attributes.
7. Add a variety of images (lifestyle, virtual).
8. Add (third-party) ratings & reviews.
9. Use AI to enhance your product feeds.

(This is not only important for better results, but also to prevent product disapprovals in GMC Next!)

 

Hack 1: Start with the most important attributes (80/20).

You can optimize many things, but what truly impacts performance?

Out of 70+ feed attributes:

• Some are required.
• Some are optional.
• Some are recommended.
• Some are “it depends”.

 

Only a handful of attributes are truly important.

The rest is nice to have (but can make a huge difference in visibility and conversions when done right).

That doesn't make them unimportant, but from a time-management perspective it’s best to focus on the 20% of the attributes that generate 80% of the results.

Here are the key components of a well-optimized Shopping Ad (the 80/20):

 

 

1. A compelling title with key product data.
2. Third-party ratings on the GTIN level.
3. Detailed description with additional info.
4. Up-to-date price, sale price, tax, and shipping.
5. Merchant or advertiser selling the product.
6. High-quality images showcasing the product.

Of course you also need other required attributes like a unique product ID or a link but let’s not look at -everything- here, just the 80/20.

Let’s get into 8 more nitty-gritty hacks to enhance your product feed so you can increase impressions, clicks, and conversions.

 

Hack 2: Write for humans, but also for the machine.

When you’re optimizing your product feed, it’s important to understand when you’re writing for humans and when you’re writing for the machine.

On the one hand, you’re adding data to directly get more clicks from real humans:

• Your title with the most important keywords.
• A competitive price.
• Transparent shipping policy (preferably free).
• Product ratings / reviews.

 

On the other hand, you’re adding data to get more impressions and to let Google know how to identify certain products:

• GTIN / MPN (so Google knows what’s what).
• Product type.

Some attributes are more technical than others, but they are all important to get as many impressions, clicks, and ultimately conversions, as possible.

 

Hack 3: Use competitive pricing & promotions.

One of the biggest driver of results is your price. So make sure it’s competitive.

As Dan Kennedy famously said: “there’s no strategic advantage to being the second cheapest in the market.”

Ultimately, Google Shopping is a price comparison platform that wants the best deal for its users.

Users keep coming back if Google provides the best possible user experience and deals.

Generally speaking, the better your price, the better your Shopping Ad position and click share.

 

Have an item on sale?

This makes your ads truly stand out:

• Use the <sale_price> attribute.
• Use a start and end date in <sale_price_effective_date>.

 

 

Next to your (sale) price, make sure you set up a promotion in GMC Next to be eligible to show a clickable promotion badge on your ads (this has a huge impact on clicks and conversions).

This is what that looks like in the Shopping results:

Important note: this feature is NOT a replacement of the “sale” annotations or striked-through prices — you still need to set up <sale_price> in your feed! Here’s a simple guide to set it up in GMC.

 

 

Hack 4: Frontload the most important keywords in your titles.

The title is one of the most prominent and essential parts of your Shopping Ad.

The more specific and detailed, the better Google can match your products with users' searches.

Also, a detailed and attractive title drives more clicks and improves your CTR.

Pro-tip: use the <short_title> attribute with max 65 characters to make sure your title shows up well in smaller inventory (especially relevant if you’re running pMax & Demand Gen).

 

 

Hack 5: Add important keywords at the end of your descriptions.

Your descriptions only show when someone clicks on the “Shopping Tab” (most users won’t do this but that doesn’t make the attribute less important).

Obviously, you want to add great sales copy to your descriptions…

But I use it differently than most people: I also add a bunch of relevant keywords at the end of my descriptions.

I’ve noticed it really helps with getting matched on more (relevant) search terms!

 

Hack 6: Stand out with optional attributes.

Most feed attributes are optional and therefore most Google Ads Specialists skip optimizing them.

You can make a big impact to your results by adding as much information as possible to optional attributes such as:

• <color>
• <size>
• <material>
• <gender>
• … etc!

 

The advantage is twofold:

1. Google knows more about your products and can show more relevant ads to (long-tail) searches.
2. Users know more about your products so you will get more (relevant!) clicks.

 

Hack 7: Add a variety of images (lifestyle, virtual).

A huge mistake advertisers make with Google Shopping: they use boring product images.

It’s really easy to go beyond and beat your competition with:

• <additional_image_link>
• <lifestyle_image_link>

 

 

And if you want to really stand out, use Google’s new AR features and virtual try-on tools (this not only helps to improve results, but also to reduce returns):

 

 

Hack 8: Add (third-party) ratings & reviews.

What sells like nothing else? Social proof and testimonials!

Add as many product ratings & reviews as you can from:

• Your store.
• Review aggregators.
• Review sites.
• Google users.
• Programs in GMC Next.

 

 

Hack 9: Use AI to enhance your product feeds.

And the last hack in this issue: do NOT optimize your product manually. This takes a lot of time and you can easily make costly mistakes.

I recommend using a product feed management tool such as Channable (we show you how to use this to optimize your feed in our Shopping Mastery course, exclusively available in The PPC Hub).

And if you’re smart, use AI to enhance your product feeds to save A LOT of time and manual effort.

FeedGen was the first AI-based solution for feeds, but it’s super technical and hard to use.

I’m not a fan.

Luckily, more tools are now rolling out AI-based feed optimization.

 

On Wednesday, we’re hosting a free workshop with ProductHero, who have just released their new “Products AI” feature that allows you to enhance your shopping feed with AI.

 

 

We’ll dive into:

• More feed management best practices.
• How to enhance your data with AI.
• + Of course a Q&A at the end.

 

The goal is not to optimize your feed with AI just for the sake of it…

The goal is to save time and improve your Shopping & Performance Max results.

Feel free to join us and 700+ Google Ads Specialists here.

 

To summarize: 9 hacks to optimize your product feed and improve Shopping & pMax results.

Start optimizing your product feeds today (for better results):

1. Start with the most important attributes (80/20).
2. Write for humans, but also for the machine.
3. Use competitive pricing & promotions.
4. Frontload the most important keywords in your titles.
5. Add important keywords at the end of your descriptions.
6. Stand out with optional attributes.
7. Add a variety of images (lifestyle, virtual).
8. Add (third-party) ratings & reviews.
9. Use AI to enhance your product feeds.

 

Last note: if you want to truly master feed management and everything else that goes into driving results with Google Shopping & Performance Max, consider joining The PPC Hub.

We just released our new “Shopping Mastery” course which contains the most in-depth feed management training in the world (with tons of real-life examples, best practices, and over-the-shoulder implementation instructions).

Next to that, you’ll unlock our proven framework to properly launch, optimize, and scale Shopping (& pMax) campaigns.

This 26-hour course is basically a Google Shopping MBA, and contains many golden nuggets on:

• Advanced Google Shopping Rankings (Bids x Competitiveness x Context).
• Advanced feed management with our Product Feed Blueprint.
• Hidden insights in Google Merchant Center Next.
• Advanced campaign structures for maximum scale.
• … And so much more!

 

 

On Tuesday, enrollment in The PPC Hub opens for 1 week only, and is limited to 100 spots (whichever comes first).

If that sounds interesting to you, feel free to join us here.

Full = full, no extensions as always.

 

And that’s all for today.

Thanks for reading, I hope it was valuable.

See you again next week!

Cheers,

Miles (& Bob)