Google Expands Product Ads Footprint With AdSense For Shopping

Google has announced its latest play in the product search arena: AdSense for Shopping. The new product brings Google’s image-based product listing ads (PLAs) to third-party retail and commerce sites.

Walmart.com is among the limited number of retail sites using AdSense for Shopping. The sponsored ads show related products along the left-hand side of the search results on the site.

Image provided by Google

They are reminiscent of Amazon product ads, which drive traffic to retailer sites from pages featuring related products on Amazon.com. The difference being that Google, in extending its network of search partners to include commerce sites, is staking claim on a wider footprint of product search revenue.

Amazon is reportedly setting to drop Google AdSense from its own site by the end of the year with the launch of an AdWords competitor. Amazon has an unparalleled amount of data on the products consumers buy online. That data would allow advertisers to target consumers based on their consumption habits, not just on what they search for. AdSense for Shopping could help Google gain product search insights across a wide range of retail sites. Google won’t however, be able to track who buys what.

Google’s product listing ads account for an increasing share of clicks for AdWords advertisers that run both text ads and PLAs. The expansion to search partners could tip that percentage even higher as Google opens up the program to more retailers.

Retailers interested in participating in AdSense for Shopping can fill out an interest form. Like the traditional AdSense model, retailers earn a percentage of the revenue generated from the ads on their sites.