New Google " " - Expandable PPC Ads?

New feature I just spotted today - expandable PPC ads

[NatronZero]

Greetings,

Today I just noticed a new feature in PPC ads - a "+" expansion under the typical ad. I prompt this type of ad when searching for the term "mens" in Google.

Now - how do I get in? My ecommerce clients would love this. What a way to get some major page real estate!

[Rehan]

They've been testing that for a while. I first noticed it in November 2007, and the best we could figure in this thread [webmasterworld.com] was that they get the product data from froogle (or whatever it's called these days) and it appears for only a few websites.

[beesticles]

I've seen it with a map embedded too, e.g. for an ad for a restaurant.

[NatronZero]

Thanks Rehan and beesticles.

[netmeg]

Wish they'd expand the beta. I have a longtime AdWords client who'd be just perfect for that; we already feed his entire product line up to Google Base every week.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Wish they'd expand the beta...

I verbally passed that feedback along to the right person early this morning, netmeg, in a meeting that included a member of that team. ;)

I'll include it in the Advertiser Feedback Report too - just for good measure.

AWA

[RhinoFish]

"My ecommerce clients would love this."

Not so fast grasshopper... :-)

Does clicking the + incur a click cost (or partial click cost)?

[Rehan]

Does clicking the + incur a click cost (or partial click cost)?

I don't think it does. Clicking on the + makes a call to something like google.com/mbd?resnum=3&mbtype=24&etc&etc&etc and returns just a Javascript snippet to show the additional products. When you click on any of the links for the products shown, that's when it does incur a click cost because it goes to google.com/aclk?sa=___etc just like regular ad links.

[netmeg]

Well I'm working on finding a way to get at least one client into it.

I'm wondering if there will be a way to track it separately from regular AdWords clicks, either in the AdWords interface, or in Analytics. It strikes me that it will be some amount of work to set up (I assume that one would have to somehow associate the correct products in Google Base with the corresponding ads) so it would be worthwhile to see how well it does before connecting mass quantities of products.

(Thanks, AWA; I also expressed my interest to Sarah)

[Rehan]

AWA, another bit of feedback you can pass along is that when using the Ad Preview Tool, the product links shown after you click on the '+' are clickable. Very few people would click those links, and the clicks don't lead to anything meaningful and probably don't incur a click cost...so it's not a big deal. But regardless, the URLs are not #'d out like the rest of the ad links when using the Ad Preview Tool.

And speaking of the Ad Preview Tool, it used to show a little popup when you clicked on one of the links. But it doesn't do that anymore. The href="# class=q onclick=fnAdvertiserTestAlert()" part of the <a> HTML tag for the ad links looks a little suspicious (missing a couple of "'s?), and may be the reason the popup doesn't appear anymore.

[avalon37]

My largest client has been is this beta test for the last 6 months. You are not charged for an expansion, and to date, the expansion % has been very low. We used to be able to track conversion perfectly, but then Google gave us new code to make tracking even more accurate and guess what - now the tracking does not work at all I've not heard of a fix. These beta products that are in release are really untested and it's getting more and more unacceptable to fund Google's learnings on our dime. I feel Google should really be sharing some of the cost here. And there was a pretty serious issue with this expansion ads beta last week and our conversion was awful that day - no compensation from Google.

[RhinoFish]

i get that there's no charge now, but this is a beta. i can't imagine if they refine this to be of benefit to consumers and advertisers (and keep it), being in such a profitable piece of real estate, that they'd give it away forever. so, i wasn't suggesting there's a charge now, but before anyone falls in love with this, let it reach puberty first, that's all. :-)

[edited by: RhinoFish at 3:43 pm (utc) on Feb. 10, 2009]

[nunya]

Does anyone know if you have to offer google checkout AND be listed in google base? The ads with the "+ Show products from..." i have seen so far all have the google checkout logo/option.

[engine]

Specify your AdWords account information in your Google Base account [base.google.com]

You can now specify your AdWords account information in your Google Base account. By doing this, you can surface your Google Base product information in your AdWords ads. AdWords campaigns that are linked to Google Base accounts will receive the benefit of richer, more specific product information in their creatives; including images and prices.

[Tonearm]

I'd love to set this up. I've added my Adwords account number to my Base account but I don't see how to add a "Product Extension" in my Adwords campaign settings. Has anyone been able to do that?

"Once you've entered your AdWords Customer ID in your Google Base account, you'll need to create a Product Extension within the Campaign Settings section of your AdWords account and link it to your Google Base account."

[Tonearm]

I see that Target is doing this. Has anyone been able to set it up? I don't seem to have the option.

[netmeg]

I was told one of my clients could participate, but when I followed up, I got an email back last week that they weren't really rolling it out yet, and "don't call us, we'll call you"

[Tonearm]

Just got this from Google:

<EDIT> The message from Google indicated that the feature is experimental and still being tested.</EDIT>

[edited by: buckworks at 9:49 pm (utc) on May 17, 2009]
[edit reason] No emails, no exceptions [/edit]

[skibum]

It seems like the advertisers will lose sales from this if the products displayed in the drop down are not spot on. You see a regular AdWords ad when you search for something, you expend the ad, you don't see what you are looking for, you move on even though the site may carry what you are looking for.

[netmeg]

I believe there's supposed to be some way to match up the keywords or ads with the products in Google Base, at least I hope so.

I have situations where I have say, blue widgets, and they come in four common sizes (each with their own SKU), and I would *love* to have my blue widgets ads have a drop down where you could go directly to the size you want.