Tag Archives: shopping

Go beyond the search box: Introducing multisearch

How many times have you tried to find the perfect piece of clothing, a tutorial to recreate nail art or even instructions on how to take care of a plant someone gifted you — but you didn’t have all the words to describe what you were looking for?

At Google, we’re always dreaming up new ways to help you uncover the information you’re looking for — no matter how tricky it might be to express what you need. That’s why today, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search: using text and images at the same time. With multisearch in Lens, you can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what you see.

Let’s take a look at how you can use multisearch to help with your visual needs, including style and home decor questions. To get started, simply open up the Google app on Android or iOS, tap the Lens camera icon and either search one of your screenshots or snap a photo of the world around you, like the stylish wallpaper pattern at your local coffee shop. Then, swipe up and tap the "+ Add to your search" button to add text.

Multisearch allows people to search with both images and text at the same time.

With multisearch, you can ask a question about an object in front of you or refine your search by color, brand or a visual attribute. Give it a go yourself by using Lens to:

  • Screenshot a stylish orange dress and add the query “green” to find it in another color
  • Snap a photo of your dining set and add the query “coffee table” to find a matching table
  • Take a picture of your rosemary plant and add the query “care instructions”

All this is made possible by our latest advancements in artificial intelligence, which is making it easier to understand the world around you in more natural and intuitive ways. We’re also exploring ways in which this feature might be enhanced by MUM– our latest AI model in Search– to improve results for all the questions you could imagine asking.

This is available as a beta feature in English in the U.S., with the best results for shopping searches. Try out multisearch today in the Google app, the best way to search with your camera, voice and now text and images at the same time.

Here’s how online shoppers are finding inspiration

People shop across Google more than a billion times a day — and we have a pretty good sense of what they’re browsing for. For instance, our Search data shows that the early 2000’s are having a moment. We’re seeing increased search interest in “Y2k fashion” and products like bucket hats and ankle bracelets. Also popular? The iconic Clinique “Happy” perfume, Prada crochet bags and linen pants.

While we know what’s trending, we also wanted to understand how people find inspiration when they’re shopping for lifestyle products. So we surveyed 2,000 U.S. shoppers of apparel, beauty and home decor for our first Inspired Shopping Report. Read on to find out what we learned.

Shopping isn’t always a checklist

According to our findings, most fashion, beauty and home shoppers spend up to two weeks researching products before they buy them. Many, though, are shopping online just for fun — 65% say they often or sometimes shop or browse online when they’re not looking for anything in particular. To help make online shopping even easier and more entertaining, we recently added more browsable search results for fashion and apparel shopping queries. So when you search for chunky loafers, a lime green dress or a raffia bag on Google, you’ll scroll through a visual feed with various colors and styles — alongside other helpful information like local shops, style guides and videos.

Phone screens show animations of a Google search for various clothing items with visual scrolling results

Apparel queries on Search show a more visual display of products

Inspiration can strike anywhere

We know shopping inspiration can strike at any moment. In fact, 60% of shoppers say they often or sometimes get inspired or prompted to buy something even when they aren’t actively shopping. That can come from spotting great street style: 39% of shoppers say they often or sometimes look for a specific outfit online after they see someone wearing it. Or it can come from browsing online: 48% of shoppers have taken a screenshot of a piece of clothing, accessory or home decor item they liked (and 70% of them say they’ve searched for or bought it afterwards). Google Lens can help you shop for looks as soon as you spot them. Just snap a photo or screenshot and you’ll find exact or similar results to shop from.

Sometimes words aren’t enough

We know it can be hard to find what you’re looking for using words alone, even when you do have an image — like that multi-colored, metallic floral wallpaper you took a photo of that would go perfectly with your living room rug. Half of shoppers say they often or sometimes have failed to find a specific piece of clothing or furniture online after trying to describe it with just words. And 66% of shoppers wished they could find an item in a different color or print.

To help you track down those super specific pieces, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search — using text and images at the same time. With multisearch on Lens, you can better uncover the products you’re looking for even when you don’t have all the words to describe them. For example, you might be on the lookout for a scarf in the same pattern as one of your handbags. Just snap a photo of the patterned handbag on Lens and add the query “scarf” to complete your look. Or take a photo of your favorite heels and add the query “flats” to find a more comfortable version.

Phone screen shows the ability to search for a flat version of a pair of yellow high heels, using text and images at the same time.

With multisearch on Lens, you can search with both images and text at the same time

Trying before you buy matters

It’s not always possible to make it to the store and try something on before you buy it — but it matters. Among online beauty shoppers, more than 60% have decided not to purchase a beauty or cosmetic item online because they didn’t know what color or shade to choose, and 41% have decided to return an item because it was the wrong shade. With AR Beauty experiences, you can virtually discover and “try on” thousands of products from brands like Maybelline New York, M.A.C. and Charlotte Tilbury — helping you make more informed decisions. And now, shoppers can try on cosmetics from a variety of brands carried at Ulta Beauty right in Google Search. Just search for a product, like the Morphe Matte Liquid Lipstick or Kylie Cosmetics High Gloss, and find the best shade for you.

Phone screens show animations of models virtually trying on various lipstick and eyeshadow shades.

Google’s AR Beauty experience features products from Ulta Beauty

No matter where you find your shopping inspiration, we hope these features and tools help you discover new products, compare different options and ultimately make the perfect purchase.

Upcoming enforcement of custom batch limits in Content API for Shopping

Beginning May 31, 2022 we will enforce the following limits for custom batch methods in the Content API for Shopping:
  • Maximum entries per request: 10,000
  • Maximum transfer size per request: 32Mb (The payload received from the client)
We’re introducing these limits to enable the fair and stable use of Content API for Shopping. The limits will apply to the following endpoints: After May 31, 2022, calls to any of these endpoints that exceed these limits will begin to fail with the following error:
  • request_too_large
Visit our batching guide to learn more about methods for reducing your batch size. If you are looking for a reasonable batch size to implement, we recommend 1,000 entries per request for each endpoint. Following this means you are unlikely to encounter the limits even if your batch size temporarily increases.

If you have any questions about implementing this change, please visit the Content API for Shopping forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Content API for Shopping Team

Helping your products stand out to shoppers

Online shoppers are more empowered than ever. They can find ratings, reviews, price comparisons and deals as quickly as inspiration strikes. And with all this information at their fingertips, they’re also open to buying from somewhere new. In fact, last year in the U.S., 67% of holiday shoppers agreed Google helped them find new products, services or brands. Standing out to shoppers in those moments of inspiration and decision is critical.

This week at Shoptalk, we’re sharing new data and insights tools to give brands and retailers the extra edge in knowing how shoppers are finding them, what shoppers want and what they’re browsing for. These tools can also help merchants price their products more competitively and — most importantly — boost sales.

Building trust with shoppers

Shoppers discover new brands online every day. But before they make a purchase, they want to know they’re spending money with a business they can trust. To reward merchants for good customer experiences and help them build their reputation with potential buyers, we’re introducing the Shopping Experience Scorecard program.

Merchants who provide excellent shipping and returns services, for example, may receive a badge indicating they’re a Trusted Store, which will appear alongside their free product listings on the Shopping tab. Merchants receive a Trusted Store badge based on their performance across metrics relative to other merchants, including but not limited to shipping speeds, shipping and return costs, and return windows.

Based on our early testing, merchants displaying a Trusted Store badge are more likely to receive clicks. We're also seeing stronger traffic to lesser-known merchants. Keep an eye out for the Shopping Experience Scorecard program, which will roll out across the U.S. in the coming months.

Animation of mobile phone highlighting a "Trusted Store" badge underneath the price of a watercolor paint set on Google Shopping.

The Trusted Store badge indicates a merchant performs well in areas like shipping speeds and costs

Delivering more actionable insights

From merchandising to branding, insights have influenced decision making and the ability to attract customers for decades. Today, we’re introducing new insights tools to help merchants keep reaching customers and growing their businesses.

It’s free for any merchant to list their products on Google. And now, we’re making it easier to measure the impact of their free listings with free listings conversion reporting. This new tool shows merchants the total traffic, impressions and conversion rate of their free listings, helping them make decisions about future ones.

For example, let’s say an online hat seller started using Google’s free listings a year ago. At the time, it wasn’t possible to see the business impact of those free listings in their Merchant Center account. Now, with conversion reporting, they can see all the conversions Google is sending them — at no additional cost.

Laptop screen shows free listings conversion reporting within Google Merchant Center, highlighting metrics like impressions, clicks and conversions.

Free listings conversion reporting helps a merchant see the total traffic, impressions and conversion rate of their free listings on Google

Product pricing in the market is dynamic, and staying competitive is critical. That’s why we’re introducing the price insights tool, which helps merchants see whether their products are priced competitively and the projected impact of price changes on their revenue. Using machine learning, the tool offers merchants a suggested price for each product they sell, along with predicted impressions, clicks, conversions and gross profit. This means a merchant can see how their pricing stacks up in comparison to the same product sold by other retailers, as well as potential revenue if they were to change the price.

Let’s come back to our online hat seller. The price insights tool would give them insights into how to price different hats. For instance, during warmer temperatures, the tool might recommend lowering the prices of winter hats and raising the prices of sun hats.

Laptop screen shows the price insights tool within Google Merchant Center, which includes suggestions for how to price products more effectively.

See whether your products are priced competitively in the market with the price insights tool

Local product insights are also coming soon to local retailers who manage a Business Profile in the U.S. and Canada. These insights will show local businesses their most-viewed products, including a snapshot of top products and total views of their products over time. This will help brick-and-mortar retailers without an e-commerce offering better understand how interest varies among their top products.

Now let’s pretend our online hat seller sells out of several brick-and-mortar locations. The local product insights report would show them which products from their Business Profile are most viewed. This may change their merchandising, assortment or even buying choices in the future.

Laptop screen shows a merchant’s Local Product Insights, with metrics like total product views and top-viewed products.

Brick-and-mortar merchants who list their products on Google can easily see a snapshot of their top-viewed products

Merchants running Google Ads can also use these tools with the Insights page, which provides business-driving search trends and tailored performance insights.

These are just some of the ways we’re helping merchants of all sizes understand their performance in stores and online, and reach more shoppers on Google. To learn more, register for Retail on Air — an on-demand video series to understand how customer behavior is shifting and how to unlock more profitability in 2022.

Smart Shopping campaign upgrade to Performance Max – update

As we announced in January, existing and future Smart Shopping campaigns (SSC) will automatically upgrade to Performance Max campaigns between July and September 2022.

As mentioned in the prior blog post, users will be able to self-upgrade in the UI starting April 2022. Developers will be able to self-upgrade in the API before the end of June. We expect the vast majority of accounts managed by the API will opt to wait to self-upgrade once the tool is available in the API in June. However, campaigns may be upgraded manually by advertisers in the UI starting in April. We recommend you implement Performance Max in your application now to ensure support for any new or upgraded Performance Max campaigns.

An upgraded SSC will be marked as REMOVED status (metrics will continue to be available in the legacy campaign for historical purposes). There will also be a mapping from the previous campaign ID to the new Performance Max campaign ID. Budgets, assets, and settings of the existing SSC are preserved.

The prior blog post had April / May 2022 as the estimated availability date for the API's new self-upgrade recommendation type. This will be available before the end of June. There will still be a six week period between availability of the new recommendation type in the API and the start of auto-upgrades.

Note that once a campaign has been upgraded, either by the UI or API, there is no means to revert the upgrade. Metrics will continue to be available in the legacy campaign for historical purposes.

Additional information

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.

, Google Ads API Team

Changes in Network Settings for the Google Ads Standard Shopping Campaigns

On February 14, 2022, Google Ads stopped serving standard Shopping campaigns on the Google Display Network, including on Gmail, Discover, and some YouTube placements. As a result, the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts will make similar changes to their behavior starting the week of February 28, 2022.

AdWords API
The AdWords API will sunset on April 27th, so you must migrate to the Google Ads API by then.

In the AdWords API, the Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork field will always return false for standard Shopping campaigns, which are defined as campaigns where the advertisingChannelType is set to SHOPPING, and the advertisingChannelSubType is unset. If you try to set Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork to true, it will be ignored.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for standard Shopping campaigns for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for these fields and values.

Google Ads API
Versions v8 and v9 of the Google Ads API will behave the same way as the AdWords API – the network_settings.target_content_network field will return false, and if you try to set this field to true, it will be ignored. In version v10 and beyond, if you try to set this field to true a CANNOT_TARGET_CONTENT_NETWORK error will be returned.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for these campaigns for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for this field and values.

Google Ads scripts
If you use bulk uploads to target a standard Shopping campaign for Google Display Network, the server will ignore the setting.

When generating reports, the behavior will be the same for standard Shopping campaigns, independent of the method that you use:
  • With the AdsApp.report() method, reports will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
  • With the AdsApp.search() method, the API will stop returning metrics for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
Historical metrics will still be available.

If you would like to retrieve any existing standard Shopping campaigns before their network settings are changed, be sure to do so before Feb. 28, 2022.

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to contact us through the forum or at [email protected] for additional help.
- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Introducing the new Merchant Center Status Dashboard

At Google, we strive to provide the highest level of service possible to our users. Still, from time to time, unexpected service disruptions do occur. When your team experiences an outage or other technical challenge, one of the first evaluations they need to make is whether the issue is with a third-party service provider or in-house. As part of our commitment to transparency and speed when communicating the status of our products, and incidents when they happen to occur, we’re pleased to roll out the Merchant Center Status Dashboard.

Check the status of a service
A look at the Merchant Center Status Dashboard

If a major incident is identified, we will generally post an outage notice on the Dashboard and provide updates when the issue is resolved. If the dot is green, it means there are no issues. The Merchant Center Status Dashboard provides status information on the Content API for Shopping, Merchant Center, and Feeds.

You can check the dashboard to view the current status of any of those services. All incidents are first verified by our support engineers, so there may be a slight delay from the time they actually occurred. More information can be found on the Merchant Center Help Center.

Subscribe to the Status Dashboard RSS or JSON feeds
To get the fastest outage alerts, we recommend subscribing to the Status Dashboard RSS feed:
  1. Go to the Status Dashboard.
  2. At the bottom, click RSS Feed and copy the feed URL.
  3. In your RSS reader, paste the URL to add the Status Dashboard feed.
  4. If you want programmatic access to the Status Dashboard, for example to integrate it into your monitoring system, at the bottom, click JSON History.
Learn more
More information about the Status dashboard can be found on the Merchant Center Help Center.

To investigate the most common errors regarding the Content API for Shopping, check this page on our Developers site. For other errors or for general Content API support, visit the forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Content API for Shopping Team

Smart Shopping and Local Campaigns upgrading to Performance Max

Starting July 2022, existing and future Smart Shopping campaigns (SSC) will begin automatic upgrades to Performance Max campaigns. Local campaigns (LC) will begin automatic upgrades starting August 2022. If you manage and/or report on SSC and/or LC, you should implement Performance Max campaign features as early as possible in order to avoid loss of functionality. Closer to July, we will provide more details and precise timing.

We recommend you begin to build integrations now to ensure adequate preparation for migration.

New retail and local campaigns

Performance Max has been available in the Google Ads API since v9. We recommend you use Performance Max today for any new campaigns with online, offline or omnichannel sales goals.

SSC can be created without conversion tracking. While Performance Max campaigns, including retail, do not require conversion tracking, it is highly recommended.

Ways to upgrade

Here are the ways you will be able to upgrade existing campaigns to Performance Max:
  • [Recommended] Self-upgrade through API recommendations. In an upcoming Google Ads API release later this year, a new recommendation type will be available for per-campaign or bulk upgrades. You can use this to control the sequence of campaign upgrades or apply all recommendations at one time. There will be equivalent upgrade options available in the Google Ads UI. Self- and auto-upgraded campaigns will carry forward some learnings from the legacy campaign to help ensure continuity.
  • Auto-upgrade. Starting July 2022, SSC will be auto-upgraded to Performance Max on a rolling basis. Starting August 2022, LC will be auto-upgraded on a rolling basis.
  • Create a new Performance Max campaign through the API. This would involve creating a new Performance Max campaign with the same attributes and properties as an existing SSC or LC. Should you choose to create a new Performance Max campaign, the new campaign may not utilize the learnings of the existing SSC or LC to the same extent.

Upgrade impact on existing campaigns

An upgraded campaign, whether by self-upgrade or auto-upgrade, will:
  • Preserve budgets, assets, and settings of the existing SSC and LC
  • Mark the legacy campaign as REMOVED status (metrics will continue to be available in the legacy campaign for historical purposes)
  • Contain a mapping from the previous campaign ID to the new campaign ID
Upgraded campaigns will function like your previous campaigns and use existing assets to run on additional inventory that drives your conversion goals. We recommend adding additional assets to get the most value out of Performance Max.

Timeline


Date Event
Now Start implementing Performance Max in your application. When possible, start new campaigns with Performance Max instead of SSC or LC.
April 27, 2022 Sunset of AdWords API
April 2022 Self-upgrade period begins in the UI
April / May 2022 Self-upgrade period begins with the API's new recommendation type
July 2022 Start of SSC auto-upgrade
August 2022 Start of LC auto-upgrade
September 30, 2022 Completion of most SSC and LC auto-upgrades


Guidance for AdWords API developers

The AdWords API will sunset on April 27, 2022. Developers using SSC via the AdWords API should migrate to the Google Ads API using SSC as early as possible. The self-migration by the Google Ads API will only be available after the sunset of the AdWords API.

Additional information



For additional information, see the Google blog post about this upgrade.
If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
, Google Ads API Team

Shared budget for Smart Shopping Campaigns

Starting February 15, 2022, all existing and future Smart Shopping Campaigns (SSC) will use a shared budget type. Although shared, the assigned budget will only be used by the SSC and will behave like a standard, non-shared campaign budget. New campaigns cannot be added to the shared budget. This change will not have any impact on campaign performance. In reports and queries, existing and future SSC budgets will be returned as explicitly_shared = true (isExplicitlyShared in AdWords API).

Note: the AdWords API will sunset on April 27, 2022. Developers must migrate to the Google Ads API before then.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
, Google Ads API Team

PrestaShop merchants can now display their products on Google

As the end-of-year holiday season is in full swing, our aim at Google is to help shoppers browse for inspiration, discover new products and ultimately find what they’re looking for. This is why we are building an open ecosystem that connects merchants and customers around the world.

To help merchants reach more customers online, we welcome PrestaShop merchants globally to more easily integrate their product inventory across Google. Starting today, “PrestaShop Marketing with Google,” a new add-on to the PrestaShop Essentials suite, is available in France and in countries where Shopping campaigns are available, allowing 300,000 PrestaShop merchants to feature their products across Google in just a few clicks. This collaboration with PrestaShop will enable their merchants to become discoverable by millions of people across Search, the Shopping tab, Image Search and YouTube.

This is the first partnership of this scale with a French and European e-commerce platform. We hope that this collaboration will give shoppers more choice online, and help merchants meet their customers more easily during the end of the year holiday season and beyond.