Shopping ads to appear in mobile image searches

As Google introduces Shopping ads to mobile image searches, can a picture paint a thousand words for marketers?

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that it has finished rolling out the latest wave of changes to its mobile-friendly ranking signal, Google has re-affirmed its commitment to mobile-friendliness by launching Shopping ads on image search on smartphones.

According to Google, mobile shopping searches on the search engine have increased by 30% in the last year and smartphone users say product images are the shopping feature they use the most.

Mobile image ads are eligible to show on image search as part of the Google Search Network, and should prove to be a powerful tool with which marketers can amplify their Shopping Campaigns, particularly in the awareness, interest and consideration stages of the conversion funnel. It’s long been known that online shoppers are visually-led, as demonstrated by the successful foray into ecommerce by Pinterest and Instagram.

Paid search (PPC) advertising gives you greater control over your presence in search engines results than a reliance on organic search results alone and Google Shopping Campaigns have become an increasingly crucial part of a marketer’s online strategy as an effective way to showcase your products and drive high quality traffic to your site.

What impact, if any, Google’s decision to monetise image search will have organic search results through image listings remains to be seen.

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