The Rise of
Google Shopping
Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018
Benchmarking Google Shopping (PLA) ad spend
and performance across 40mil ads in the US/UK.

www.adthena.com

Contents

2

3
3
4
4
5
5
6

Executive Summary
Google Shopping ad spend eclipsing text
Fashion and apparel retailers biggest spenders
Desktop still best for product based search (but only just)
Shopping ads driven by non-brand search terms
What keywords drive Google Shopping ads?
The future of Google Shopping

7
7
7
7

Key Stats
Share of ad spend/impressions
MobileSearch behavior

8910Introduction
Increasing ad-space for Google Shopping ads
Back to black dresses...

11

What does the growth of Google Shopping mean for retailers?

11

Methodology

13

Text vs Google Shopping Ads

16

Category specific ad spend

20
21
23

Google Shopping ad spend by device
Category speciﬁc ad spend by device
Category speciﬁc share of clicks by device

25

Subcategory specific ad spend

27
28

Keyword diversity
Brand and non-brand keywords

29

Conclusion/Key Takeaways| The Rise of Google Shopping

www.adthena.com

Executive Summary
This report reveals the extent to which Google Shopping ads, commonly referred to as Product Listing Ads (orPLAs), have become the most popular ad format for retail advertisers, with ad spend now far in excess of text
ads in retail categories.
As of Q1 2018, Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend. Adthena’s Q1 Search
Advertising Report, which encompassed 40 million ads from over 260,000 advertisers, reveals that this 76.4% of
search spend generated 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads between January to
February 2018.
The data reveals the true extent of Google Shopping ad format adoption in the US/UK, among advertisers
across retail categories such as Fashion and Apparel, Consumer Electronics and Home & Garden.

Google Shopping ad spend
eclipsing text
While text ads are undoubtedly still the
predominant ad format in a number of search
speciﬁc categories, the story is clearly very
different in retail search1.
Coinciding with the 76.4% ﬁgure in the US, thedata revealed that In the UK, retail advertising
spend on Google Shopping Ads now amounts to
82% of retail ad spend, attracting 87.9% of clicks.

Google Shopping ad spend vs text (US/UK)
PLA AD SPEND% OF PAID SEARCH CLICKS

US

76.4%

85.3%

UK

82%

87.9%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

These ﬁgures conﬁrm retailers in both the US and
UK are investing signiﬁcantly more advertisingdollars in Google Shopping ads than text ads,
and that shopping ads still offer good value interms of spend/click ratio.

““

The bigger picture here is the shift in how audiences are consuming
new ad formats. As retailers move ad spend into Google Shopping or
mobile, those who innovate and master their categories will be theones who shape consumers' future ad experiences.
ASHLEY FLETCHER - VP MARKETING, ADTHENA

1 Adthena deﬁned ‘retail search’ as search data categorized in the following Adwords taxonomies: apparel, beauty and personal care, health, home & garden, occasions & gifts and sports & ﬁtness.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |3

Consumer electronics retailers are the biggest spenders

In retail speciﬁc verticals, the proportion of Google Shopping ad spend ranges between 64.4% and 86%.
At the top end, advertisers in consumer electronics (US) have the greatest Google Shopping ad spend, with PLA
ad spend amounting to 86.1% of all search advertising dollars (just 13.9% of ad spend in the category is now
being spent on text ads). In consumer electronics (UK), 78.3% of ad spend is now being spent on Google
Shopping ads.
The retail category which has seen the lowest adoption of Google Shopping ads has been beauty and personalcare (US), where 64.4% of ad spend is on PLAs.

Desktop still best for product based search (but only just)Our research supports evidence that mobile search is serving as a crucial touchpoint for product purchasing
decisions2. Analysis revealed that Google Shopping ad spend on mobile now matches desktop, accounting for38.5% of overall retail search budgets, although shopping ads on desktop do still generate a greater share ofclicks.

Google Shopping Ad SpendDESKTOP PLA

DESKTOP CLICKSMOBILE PLA

MOBILE CLICKS

US

37.8%

43.5%

38.5%

41.8%

UK

47.2%

52.3%

34.8%

35.6%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

The trends were broadly similar across all retail. Within speciﬁc categories, there was a varying level ofinvestment in mobile Google Shopping ads. In fashion and apparel (US), ad spend amounts to 36.9%, and in
consumer electronics (US) this ﬁgure is 48.4%; the equivalent Google Shopping ﬁgures on desktop were 47.7%
and 37.6% respectively.

Across US online retail, Google Shopping ad spend on mobile makes up
38.5% of retailer’s total Google Shopping campaign ad spend, withshopping ads on mobile receiving 41.8% of the share of clicks on average.

2 “How mobile has redeﬁned the consumer decision journey for shoppers”, www.thinkwithgoogle.com

4| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Google Shopping Ad Spend by Category
DESKTOP PLA

DESKTOP CLICKSMOBILE PLA

MOBILE CLICKSAPPAREL (US)

47.7%

50.9%

36.9%

38.8%

CONSUMER
ELECTRONICS (US)

37.6%

40.2%

48.4%

50%

APPAREL (UK)

54.2%

55.1%

35.4%

35.2%

CONSUMER
ELECTRONICS (UK)

43.9%

49.2%

34.5%

36.9%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

The ﬁgures show that in the largest retail verticals, such as consumer electronics in the US, retailers now invest agreater proportion of ad spend into mobile Google Shopping ads than any other device speciﬁc ad format.

Shopping ads driven by non-brand search terms
Our research indicates that the adoption of Google Shopping ads has been driven by non-brand or genericsearch terms. When it comes to high-volume branded search terms, US brands invested just 33.6% of budgets
on shopping ads, as opposed to the 76.4% across all search. UK brands invested even less proportionally onbrand terms, spending just 20.5% of search ad spend on Google Shopping ads.

What keywords drive Google Shopping ads?

BRANDED SEARCHTERMS (US)
33.6% ad spend on
Google Shopping ads

BRANDED SEARCHTERMS (UK)
20.5% of ad spend on
Google Shopping ads

This may be due to the broad diversity of generic, product-based search terms which retailers are targeting withshopping ads.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |5

The future of Google Shopping
If the current trend continues, the inﬂuence of Google Shopping advertising formats will continue to increase
across categories and product-based consumer searches. Advertisers can expect greater levels of competition,as PLA adoption continues to grow among advertisers looking to optimize campaigns, and their spend-to-click
ratio.
The extent to which Google Shopping ads have been adopted as the most signiﬁcant part of retail ad spend
budgets is indicative of how advertisers must continuously adapt to new formats and opportunities. For
advertisers who depend on search, it is especially important to optimize campaigns for the changing landscapeand intricacies of the SERP.
As search advertising practices continue to change, and new developments such as the recently announced
Shopping Showcase3, are introduced, advertisers will need to be especially agile in their advertising practices inorder to stay ahead of the game.

3 ‘What makes up a Showcase Shopping ad’, Google

6| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Key Stats
Share of ad spend / impressions• In the US, advertising spend on Google Shopping Ads now makes up 76.4% of retailer’s total search budgets,
and wins 85.3% of clicks.
• In the UK, advertising spend on Google Shopping Ads now makes up 82% of retailer’s total search budgets,
and wins 87.9% of clicks.
• Advertisers in the fashion and apparel (US) category were the most dedicated users of Google Shopping ads,
with ad spend fueling 84.6% of all ads in the category, and winning 89.7% of clicks.
• Just 14% of ad spend in consumer electronics is now being spent on text ads in the US, with the equivalentﬁgure being 21.7% in the UK.

Mobile• Mobile shopping ads now make up 38.6% of retailer’s total search ad spend, with these campaigns receiving
41.8% of the share of clicks across all search (US).
• Google shopping ads on mobile fuel 79% of device ad spend, and win 87.2% of clicks (US).

Search behavior• Clicks on shopping ads are being driven by non-brand search terms. In the US, branded search terms fuel33.6% of Google Shopping ad spend, as opposed to the 76.4% ﬁgure across all search.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |7

Introduction
For some advertisers, it may be a surprise that Google Shopping ad spend makes up 76.4% of total ad spend inretail search, however this has been a growing trend for some time. As Google has gradually scaled up its
Google Shopping products in recent years, there has been a growing consensus in the industry is that shopping
ads are extremely effective in inﬂuencing retail purchases.
In June 2017, an EU antitrust commission ﬁned Google $2.7B for “abus[ing] its market dominance as a searchengine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results”4. As a result, Google opened up
the Google Shopping service to rival shopping comparison services last year.

Additionally, between Jan 2015 and June 2016 the inﬂuence of Google Shopping in contributing to site orders
in the US grew from 5% to 14%. Especially for the generic search queries (the non-branded search terms) thatare typical for the early stages of consumer purchase journeys, Google Shopping ads are regarded to be a
crucial means of engaging consumers early, and winning new customer acquisitions4.

4 Antitrust: Commission ﬁnes Google €2.42 billion for abusing dominance as search engine by giving illegal advantage to own comparison shopping service, European Commission
5 How important is Google Shopping for retailers?, www.searchengineland.com

8| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Increasing ad-space for Google Shopping ads
The growth in Google Shopping ad spend is supported by an increasing amount of ad space in search engine
results pages (SERPs). There have been a number of developments in recent years which afford additional
prominence to Google Shopping listings.
The carousel: First appearing in the October 20165, the Google Shopping carousel initially extended thenumber of shopping listings to 15 listings. In the US and UK this has now doubled and the carousel now surfaces
30 paid listings (Feb ‘18).

Product groups: Especially on generic or non-brand search, Google offers a ‘Reﬁne by product group’ section
which further categorizes the types of products consumers are searching for. Especially for the research-driven
stages of consumer purchase decisions, this further increases the depth and diversity of advertisers’ productlistings.

6 Google Changes Product Listing Ads to Carousels on Desktop, www.thesempost.com

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |9

Product cards: On mobile and tablet devices,
product cards invite users to evaluate products
decisions with further product information andcomparison. This is common for speciﬁc branded
product searches and model names.

Back to black dresses...
And ﬁnally, going back to our black dress example,
we can see that on certain searches, the carousel
now offers an additional level of categorization -- inthis case for the types of materials searchers may beinterested in..

10

| The Rise of Google Shopping

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What does the growth of Google
Shopping mean for retailers?
The recent changes to Google Shopping ad formats have dramatically increased the depth and breadth of the
product ads that consumers are served in search-based purchase journeys. For advertisers in search-driven retailcategories, it will be important to monitor the competition, and the search landscape as retailers scale up their
Google Shopping ad campaigns.
This report benchmarks the current state of search advertising within retail search in the US and UK, gauging
currently usage and ad spend for both Google Shopping and text ads, in various categories and search verticals.
The results incorporate data from over 40 million unique search ads collated and analyzed by Adthena’s
machine-learned data collection.

Methodology
Adthena's research incorporated approximately 20.7 million US and 20.1 million UK ads between Jan-Feb 2018.
In total, our study encapsulated 40.85M ads, from 267,000 competitors, encompassing over 1mil search terms.
Adthena’s patented machine learning technology was used to categorize competitive search terms; aconvolutional neural network, trained on massive existing datasets was utilized to map a dataset of search terms
to Google’s deﬁned Adwords taxonomies.
Typical retail keywords included branded search terms such as “burberry coat” or “sonos play 5”, and generic orcomparative search terms such as “wireless headphones” or “red kettle”.
Data was collected for text or Google Shopping ads being served daily on each search terms, month-on-month,and across the whole of US / UK retail search. For paid listings, data incorporates the top four ads (T4) andbottom four (B4) text ads, and any Google Shopping sponsored advertising displayed on a ﬁrst page Google
SERP.
An estimated number of impressions was calculated using Adthena’s proprietary click-through rate data, giving
an average proportion of ad spend and clicks by device, ad format (text/PLA), and further segmented by
Adwords taxonomies.
Overall click share is intended to be representative of a domain’s paid search visibility and ad spend, and not of
overall ﬁnancial performance.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |11

Google Shopping (PLA)vs Text Ads

Search Advertising benchmark,Q1 2018

12| The Rise of Google Shopping

www.adthena.com

Text vs Google Shopping Ads
Key insight
In online retail, share of ad spend and share of clicks are much greater on Google Shopping campaigns thanAdwords in both the US and UK..

US
While text ads are undoubtedly still the predominant ad format in a number of search speciﬁc categories, thestory is clearly very different in retail search6.

Across US online retail, Google Shopping Ads now make up 76.4% ofretail search ad spend, and win 85.3% of all clicks.

Ad spend/clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, retail (US)

GoogleShopping ads

76.4

ad spend

0%

23.6

85.3

clicks

20%

40%

60%

Text ads

80%

14.7

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Overall, 76.4% of ad spend generated 85.3% of clicks on shopping ads, and 23.6% of ad spend generated
14.7% of clicks on text ads.

7 Adthena deﬁned ‘retail search’ as search data categorized in the following Adwords taxonomies: apparel, beauty and personal care, health, home and garden, occasions and gifts, andsports and ﬁtness.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |13

UK
In the UK, retail advertising spend on Google Shopping Ads now amounts
to 82% of retail ad spend, attracting 87.9% of clicks.
Ad spend/clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, retail (UK)
GoogleShopping ads

82

ad spend18

87.9

clicks0%

Text ads

20%

40%

60%

80%

12.1

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

UK Google Shopping ad spend was even higher, 82% of ad spend was responsible for driving 87.9% of clicks on
shopping ads, and 18% of ad spend drove 12.1% of clicks on text ads.

14

| The Rise of Google Shopping

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MobileDrilling down into mobile campaigns reveals that the majority of mobile search budgets in retail are now being
spent on Google Shopping ads.
On mobile campaigns, 79% of US and 81.2% of UK ad spend is spent on Google Shopping ads.

Mobile ad spend/clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, retail (US/UK)
GoogleShopping ads

79

US ad spend

81.2

UK ad spend

20%

40%

60%

12.8

18.8

87

UK clicks

0%

21

87.2

US clicks

Text ads

80%

13

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

The focus on mobile PLAs for retailers seems to be winning clicks, generating 87.2% and 87% of the share ofclicks in the US and UK respectively.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |15

Category specific ad spend
Key insight
In both the US and UK, Google Shopping campaigns offer better spend/click ratio than Adwords/text ads within
key retail categories.

US
Within individual categories, ad spend on Google Shopping varied between 64.4% and 86%:

Ad spend, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category (US)
GoogleShopping ads
occasionsand gifts

74.8

25.2

65.3

telecommunications

34.7

home &
garden83.4

personal
health69.5

business andindustrial

16.6
30.5

79.9

20.1

beauty andpersonal care

65.2

34.8

sports andﬁtness64.4

35.6

consumerelectronics

86

14

fashion &apparel

84.6

15.4

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 201816

Text ads| The Rise of Google Shopping

www.adthena.com

100%

Advertisers in consumer electronics (US) have the greatest Google Shopping ad spend, with PLA ad spend
amounting to 86% of all search advertising dollars (just 13.9% of ad spend in the category is now being spenton text ads).
The retail category which has seen the lowest adoption of Google Shopping ads is beauty and personal care
(US), where 64.4% of ad spend is on PLAs.
Fashion and apparel, and home and garden are also notable for strong usage of Google Shopping ads,
drawing over 80% of overall search ad spend.

Share of clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category (US)
GoogleShopping ads
occasionsand gifts

Text ads

81.9

18.1

77.4

telecommunications

22.6

home &
garden85.7

personal
health14.3

81.6

business andindustrial

18.4

85.8

beauty andpersonal care

14.2

76.6

sports andﬁtness23.4
79.8

consumerelectronics

20.2
90.1

fashion &apparel

89.7

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

9.9
10.3
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Across all categories, Google Shopping ads achieved a positive click/spend ratio. In beauty and personal carefor example, 76.6% of all search clicks are being won by PLAs despite the fact that just 64.4% of ad spend isinvested on such ads.
This suggests that the value of Google Shopping ads has still not reached saturation point, and there is still
scope for advertisers to grow Google Shopping campaigns.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |17

UK
UK ad spend on Google Shopping is broadly similar to the US. However, the proportion of ad spend on Google
Shopping ads within home and garden, beauty in personal care, and personal health is even higher than in the
US.

Ad Spend, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category (UK)
GoogleShopping ads
occasionsand gifts

77.7

22.3

66.8

telecommunications

33.2

home &
garden86

personal
health71.5

business andindustrial

72.9

27.1
81.7

sports andﬁtness80.5

consumerelectronics

21.3

73
20%

40%

60%

18.3
19.5

78.3

fashion &apparel14
28.5

beauty andpersonal care0%

Text ads

27
80%

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

In consumer electronics (UK), 78.3% of ad spend is now being spent on Google Shopping ads.
In the UK, home and garden, beauty and personal care, and personal health have a higher proportion of PLA
adoption than in the US.

18| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Share of clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category (UK)
GoogleShopping ads

Text ads

83.4

16.6

occasionsand gifts

74.6

telecommunications
home &
garden

25.4
88

12

personal
health83

17business andindustrial

83.3

16.7

beauty andpersonal care

87.5

12.5

sports andﬁtness86.6

13.4

consumerelectronics

86

14

fashion &apparel

80.3

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

19.7
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Similarly to the US, all categories show positive click/spend ratios, suggesting Google Shopping ads win more
clicks proportionate to spend, than text ads.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |19

Google Shopping ad spend
by device
Key insight
Google Shopping ad spend is likely to grow further as retailers continue to seize search advertising
opportunities, especially on mobile.

Mobile PLA spend now makes up 38.5% of retailer’s total search ad
spend, with these campaigns receiving 41.8% of the share of clicks
across all search.
Our analysis revealed that Google Shopping ad spend on mobile now matches desktop, accounting for 38.5%
of overall retail search budgets; although shopping ads on desktop still generate a slightly greater share ofclicks.

Google Shopping ads also generated a greater proportion of clicks relative to ad spend, than text ads, whichbroadly indicates that there is still growth potential and opportunity for further ad spend investment in Google
Shopping ads.

How much ad spend / click share is being driven by Google
Shopping Ads?
Ad spend, Google Shopping vs text, by device (US/UK)
Desktop Text

US ad spend

13.3

US clicks

8.6

UK ad spend

9.9

UK clicks

0%

Desktop PLA

Mobile PLA

37.8

43.5

47.2

6.8

40%

38.6

10.3

41.8

6.2

34.8

52.3

20%

Mobile Text

35.6

60%

80%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 201820

| The Rise of Google Shopping

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8

5.3

100%

Category specific ad spend, by device
US

Drilling down into category speciﬁc ad spend by device, reveals that consumer electronics retailers spend thegreatest proportion of ad spend budgets on Google Shopping ads for mobile.

Ad spend, Google Shopping vs text, by category device (US)Desktop Text
occasionsand gifts

15.3

home &
gardenbusiness andindustrial
beauty andpersonal care

19.1

sports andﬁtness

19.6
7.8

fashion &apparel

9.1

0%

37.8

37.3

42.7

29.6

34.9
32.5

48.4
36.9

47.7
20%

40%

60%

80%

6.4
13.8
8.4
16.5

32.8

37.6

9.9
16.3

37.6

31.6

11.7

consumerelectronics

37.3
45.8

16.7

Mobile Text

42.9

28

10.2

personal
healthMobile PLA

31.9

18.5

telecommunications

Desktop PLA

15.2
6.2
6.3
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Within speciﬁc categories, the data shows a varying level of investment in mobile Google Shopping ads. In
fashion and apparel, ad spend amounts to 36.9%, and in consumer electronics this ﬁgure is 48.4%.
Notably:• Fashion and apparel advertisers appear to focus their ad spend on desktop PLAs, with 47.7% of ad spend.
• Retailers advertising in the occasions and gifts sector invest a sizable 42.9% of ad spend in mobile PLAs.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |21

UK
Ad Spend, Google Shopping vs Text, by category device (UK)
Desktop Text
occasionsand gifts

12.8

home &
gardenMobile Text

36.1

33.5

8.1

personal
healthMobile PLA

41.6
18.5

telecommunications

Desktop PLA

33.3
50.2

15.6

14.8
35.8

40

9.5

31.5

5.9
12.8

business andindustrial

15

beauty andpersonal care

10.9

47.5

34.1

7.5

sports andﬁtness

11

47

33.5

8.5

consumerelectronics

12.4

34.4

9.3

fashion &apparel
0%

40.3

32.7

43.9

6.1

35.4

54.2
20%

40%

60%

80%

12

4.3
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Google Shopping ad spend on mobile was generally lower in the UK than in the US, especially in verticals suchas consumer electronics and occasions and gifts.
If UK search advertising follows a similar direction to the US, we can expect mobile shopping ads to be a focus
for advertisers, and for mobile PLA ad spend to increase as retailers look to capitalize on the new opportunities
in mobile product searches.

22| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Category specific share of clicks, by device
Share of clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category device (US)Desktop Text
occasionsand gifts

11

telecommunications

12.3

33.5

10.4

38.7

business andindustrial

8.5

40.8

11.7

consumerelectronics

5.6

fashion &apparel

6.3

0%

48.2

40.5
40.2

37.5

5.4

42.9

8

40.9

10.3

39.3

8.5
50 4.2

38.8

50.9
40%

10.7

44.9 5.7

35.8

20%

7

43.5

personal
healthsports andﬁtnessMobile Text

46.2

8.9

13.2

Mobile PLA

35.8

home &
gardenbeauty andpersonal care

Desktop PLA

60%

80%

4
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Google Shopping ads outperformed text ads in terms of click/spend ratio, on both desktop and mobile.
Sports and fitness retailers have the greatest growth potential, especially if they expand Google Shopping ads
on mobile. In this category, retailers are currently winning 39.3% of clicks on mobile PLA, despite only spending
32.8% of search budgets on such ads.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |23

Share of clicks, Google Shopping vs text ads, by category device (UK)
Desktop Text
occasionsand gifts

9.6

telecommunications

14.3

Desktop PLA

Mobile PLA

Mobile Text

46.5

36.9

39.2

35.4

home &
garden7

personal
health

9.6

48.6

business andindustrial

9.5

48.3

52.9

7
11.1

35.2
33.5
35

5
7.3
7.2

beauty andpersonal care

7.5

sports andﬁtness7.6

5135.6 5.8

consumerelectronics

8.1

49.2

36.9 5.8

fashion &apparel5.7

0%35.7 4.9

51.9

35.2

55.1
20%

40%

60%

80%

4
100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

The disparity between device ad spend and device click share was smaller in general than in the US, however
there are still some interesting observations to be made.
Share of clicks from mobile text ads, was relatively small for the proportion of ad spend invested in the channel.
In consumer electronics for example, despite mobile shopping ads commanding 9.3% of overall ad spend, thisdrove just 5.8% of clicks. Similarly, this was also true for beauty and personal care, and sports and fitness.

Overall takeaways• At a category level, the data indicates that there is still return on investment to be gained from cross-device
Google Shopping ads in both the US and UK.
• In both territories, we can expect spend on PLAs to increase on both desktop and mobile, as retailers continue
to test the format, and move proportionate spend from text ads.
• In the UK especially, the proportion of search ad spend on mobile PLAs is lower than in the US; this may
increase in 2018.

24| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Subcategory specific ad spend
Key insight
Current data indicates that UK retailers in the most competitive retail categories are increasing spend on mobile
PLAs.
To ﬁnd out more about how retailers are focusing ad spend in the most competitive retail verticals, Adthenalooked closer at the speciﬁc search terms which correspond to speciﬁc Adword taxonomies, in particular, thetwo subcategories which receive the greatest PLA ad spend: ‘Fashion and Apparel ↳ Clothing’ and ‘Home andGarden ↳ Home Furniture’.

Between Jan-Feb ‘18, mobile PLA ad spend in the clothing subcategory was 63.7% of the total search ad spend,
yet the greatest share of clicks is still being won on desktop PLAs (55.5%). The same was true for home furniture
where 57.4% of ad spend is spent on mobile PLAs, but the greatest share of clicks is still being won on desktop
PLAs (50.5%).
If retailers continue to increase ad spend focus on mobile PLAs, it UK retailers can expect a corresponding
increase in mobile PLA share of clicks in the coming months.

Share of Ad Spend, Google Shopping vs Text Ads, by device (US)Desktop Text

home and garden
home furniture

13

fashion and apparelclothing

110%

Desktop PLA

Mobile PLA

12.6

17.6

20%

40%

60%

80%

Mobile Text

64.6

9.7

63.7

7.7

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |25

Share of Clicks, Google Shopping vs Text Ads, by device (US)Desktop Text

home and garden
home furniture

7

fashion and apparelclothing

5.7

0%

Desktop PLA

Mobile PLA

50.4

Mobile Text

37.3 5.3

55.5

20%

40%

34.7

60%

80%

4

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

Key Takeaways• The two Adwords subcategories with the highest mobile PLA ad spend, Fashion and Apparel ↳ Clothing’ and‘Home and Garden ↳ Home Furniture’, somewhat surprisingly, appear to receive a greater share of clicks ondesktop PLAs.
• This may indicate that retailers are still testing new mobile PLA campaigns, and we may see increases inmobile PLA share of clicks in 2018.

26| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Keyword diversity
Key insight• In the US, the largest campaigns are being run on mobile PLAs, in terms of the number of search terms being
advertised on.
• Shopping ads are being driven by non-brand search terms. In the US, 66% of Google Shopping ads are being
driven non-brand keywords.
In terms of the number of keywords that advertisers are utilizing in their campaigns, the data indicates that thetrend is broadly similar in both the US and the UK.
In the US, retail advertisers advertise on more search terms for mobile PLAs, in proportion to all search terms
that they advertise on. This would suggest there has been slightly greater adoption of mobile PLAs in the US
than in the UK.

Keyword Diversity, Google Shopping vs Text Ads, by device (US/UK)
Desktop Text

Desktop PLA

Mobile PLA

Mobile Text

UK

29.9

21.1

28.8

20.2

US

29.9

19.6

31.7

18.8

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |27

The fact that Google Shopping ads are being advertised on a large variety of keywords suggests that Google
Shopping ads are reaching consumers across a range of touchpoints, and is another signal for the extent of PLA
ad adoption in retail search.
The fact that keyword diversity matches that of desktop text ads is an indication that these ads are inﬂuencing

the broad spectrum of consumer purchase decisions, and not just at the point of purchase.

Brand and non-brand keywords
To investigate what kinds of search terms are driving Google Shopping ads, Adthena categorized branded andnon-branded search terms using a machine learning technique known as a convolutional neural network.

Keywords which drive Google Shopping ads (US/UK)
Brand Search
Terms

33.6

US

UK

0%

Non-brand
search terms

66.4

20.5

20%

79.5

40%

60%

80%

100%

“The Rise of Google Shopping”, Adthena Search Advertising Report, Q1 2018

The process revealed that in the US, 66% of all Google shopping ads are being driven by non-brand searchterms such as ‘wireless headphones’, or ‘black dress’; with the equivalent ﬁgure in the UK being 79.5%.

28| The Rise of Google Shopping

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Conclusion / Key Takeaways
For retail advertisers in the US and UK, the shifting of search ad spend into mobile PLAs has changed the searchlandscape. It has been a change fueled by changes in the SERP that have increased the amount of retail ad
space for Google Shopping ads.
Adthena’s analysis of over 40 million search ads suggests that there is still opportunity for retail advertisers togrow Google Shopping campaigns across the board, which is evidenced by the fact that retailers currently
investing in Google Shopping ads receive a greater number of proportionate clicks from Shopping ads, relative
to ad spend.
The effectiveness of Google Shopping ads will naturally vary by category, and also subcategory speciﬁc niches
in retail, however the precedent is being set by the most competitive segments in search.
For leading retailers in retail, scaling and optimizing existing Google Shopping campaigns will be a focus for
2018, as the industry streamlines the iterative testing of new keywords, ads, and bidding strategies.

Key Takeaways
A key theme of this report has been the extent to which the competitive search landscape is changing, and 2018
will undoubtedly see further changes in the landscape. For advertisers in the retail space, Adthena recommends
three key takeaways:• Investigate the value of competitive intelligence. Conduct gap analysis across a retail market in order toanalyze the value of opportunities around Google Shopping.
• Leverage machine learning for search term categorization. Build a comprehensive understanding of
consumer search behavior.
• Optimize, streamline, and get more value from Google Shopping campaigns. Integrate Google Shopping
campaigns with Adwords/text ad campaigns, and respond to changes in the competitive market.

www.adthena.com

The Rise of Google Shopping |29

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