As if Google didn’t have enough revenue sources they now have a new one. The product listing ads or PLAs. While the search result type is nothing new the ability to pay for placement with them is.
You’ve seen PLA’s before. They look like this:
The product images with names and prices push down the organic results. Advertisers can now purchase placement in these product listings. In fact it’s become a very popular ad type for Google.
Nearly 10,000 U.S. advertisers are now using Google PLAs, up 54.7% in June (quarter to quarter), according to a Jefferies research team led by Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald. Those advertisers are running 156,000 ads, up 20.8% from the previous quarter
source
The massive growth in PLA advertising is proof of it’s effectiveness. Product owners are seeing ROI’s here.
Despite all that there’s one product merchant who may not be that excited about PLA growth. Amazon. Their historically strong product rankings are taking a hit on every page PLA’s are prominent. And if Amazon wants to overcome that impact they’re going to have to pay Google just like everyone else for the privilege.
This is an interesting ecommerce story between two giants. For now it seems as though Google has the upper hand here. The outcome will most likely take a long time to come to fruition.
In the meantime you may want to take advantage of premium product placement with PLA advertising.
Have you tried this type of advertising? Let us know in the comments below.
Is this available for affiliates or just for product owners?
Well that’s the rub,isn’t it? I’m sure some savvy datafeed affiliates will/have figured out how to utilize this.