Nothing triggers a flurry of new browser tabs, the frantic searching of related terms, and compulsively screen capturing everything in sight like stumbling across a change to Google’s SERPs…(well, for me at least). Back in June we mentioned that Google’s product ad format was being tested. Recently, during some routine Googling, I found myself in the middle of one of these tests. Below are several screenshots for a few CPG related searches.
![[bathroom cleaner]](http://proximitysearchmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Picture-7.png "Picture 7")
Some interesting things to point out:
- They are always positioned above the text ads. Unless your ad has the required quality score and bid to appear at the top of organic results (left column), your text ads on the right are substantially lower on the page when compared to the current layout.
- They are always in sets of 3 (when the images are shown)
- They are often, but not always, the same top three results in a similar search on google.com/products. When they are not the same top three from each, there is no discernible pattern regarding how they are chosen/displayed. See the two searches below for [mr clean magic erasers]. The first, done on google.com, reveals product ads from Office Max, Sears, and eCost. Searching the same query on google.com/products does not even yield a result from Sears (that I could find).
- They still need some work. See the screenshot below for a search for [cascade action pacs]. Looking for a grille for your Ford Mustang complete with flames? Too bad…they are temporarily out of stock.
- Google appears to be testing various types of product ad layouts. Some with photos, some without. Below are screen shots of two versions of the same search for [febreze].
It will be interesting to see, if/when these tests become a standard part of SERPs, what happens to the click-through-rate of text ads placed below the product ads. Also, I have to believe that the click-through rate of the product ads themselves will be quite high (especially initially) when users see an image where they previously did not.
Will products need to be listed in Google’s product directory to be included? Will they give preference to merchants using Google Checkout? Similar to organic page ranking, will a certain amount of authority be given to the brand’s official ecommerce sites? Or will the usual bulk PPC buyers (e.g. BizRate, NexTag, Amazon) be the major players?
We’ll post the answers here as we learn them.
