Google introducing shoppable ads on Google Images

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A recent study shows that Google is the first place US shoppers go to discover or find a new brand or product. But shoppers aren’t just doing their searches on Google.com. We’ve seen that 50 percent of online shoppers said images of the product inspired them to purchase, and increasingly, they’re turning to Google Images.

That’s why we’re investing in shopping solutions across more of our properties, like Google Images. When we launched Shopping ads on Google Images, we wanted to provide advertisers with a new way to reach shoppers where they’re looking for more visual inspiration. Now, we’re introducing shoppable ads on Google Images as another way we’re helping you connect with consumers. This new format enables you to highlight multiple products available for sale within your sponsored ad among Google Images results. We’re currently testing this on a small percentage of traffic with select retailers, surfacing on broad queries like “home office ideas”, “shower tile designs”, and “abstract art”.

Let’s say a shopper is searching for home office ideas on her mobile device or desktop and goes to Google Images to explore ideas around how to organize her room. She can scroll through the images, hover over any sponsored ad with the price tag, and see the items for sale in the image -- along with prices, the brand, and more. We’ll continue to roll this out to more categories across more retailers over the next few months.

Moreover, advertisers have been benefiting from Showcase Shopping ads, which lets you promote your brand and products through beautiful imagery, descriptions, and relevant promotions. Since launch, thousands of retailers and brands in 17 countries are running Showcase Shopping ads to reach new customers in their inspiration phase. Now, we’re bringing Showcase Shopping ads to Google Images as well, offering shoppers a more inspirational and rich visual experience.

And last month, we shared that we’re expanding Merchant Center as a platform to power shopping experiences beyond advertising on surfaces across Google. Now, in addition to using markup solutions that we've long had available, retailers can provide product data to Google, free of charge, so that we can start showing more of your product information to potential shoppers.

Today’s consumers are interacting with us across a multitude of touchpoints, searching and asking for ideas. To help inspire them, we’re continually thinking of ways to create better shopping experiences. And, we want to continue partnering with retailers like you so we can help consumers in these moments that will drive them to the final purchase.

Source: Visual ads on Google Images