Google AdWords has recently announced that they are making some changes to the way their mobile shopping ads are displayed. The update is going to help provide more information, and information that is easier to enjoy, for people who are browsing on mobile devices.
In their announcement, they said that the numbers prior to Thanksgiving show that there is 350% more people performing shopping related searches from mobile smart phones this year than there was last year at the same time. This is quite a dramatic spike, and will almost certainly continue all the way through the heavy shopping season.
Giving Shoppers what they want
One of the most important things that AdWords is doing is providing a richer shopping experience for those on mobile devices. According to Google surveys and other information, people are looking to get more details and get a better look at items before they make a decision about purchasing them. With that in mind, AdWords is offering expandable product cards for a wide range of products.
For example, if someone searches for the latest smart phone that they are thinking about purchasing for a loved one, the results will display a high quality image of the smart phone they searched for as well as a list of merchants who are carrying it. In addition, they can click to expand any of the results to show details such as the brand, operating system, cellular provider, weight, screen size and much more. This is just the type of information that people are looking for when shopping online from their mobile devices.
You can see an example of this type of search result in the following image, provided by Google:
Another improvement is focused on local shoppers. AdWords knows that many people put off their shopping until the last minute and can’t afford to wait for items to ship. To help these people, shoppers can now quickly display inventory ads on their mobile device. If you search for a product, for example, it will show a list of places in your area that are selling it. With a quick click, you can see which stores nearby have it in stock, how many they currently have, and a variety of other details. See an image of a local ad inventory, as well as the expanded results here:
Finally, they are also providing mobile shoppers with a better way to view images of the products they are searching for. When looking at products on Google Shopping, users will be able to get multiple images from multiple sources to make sure they like what they see. They can even view 360 degree images of many top products. The following image is an example of what someone may see when searching for a tablet on their smart phone:
Overall these are some very nice improvements that will likely help to improve the overall mobile user experience. In addition, this gives advertisers some great options to improve the way they are promoting their products to customers.
