One of the basic rules for using Google Shopping for your e-commerce businesses is to utilise at least one comparison shopping service, be it Google Shopping itself or a third-party CSS platform/partner. But can an e-commerce business use multiple comparison shopping services for Google Shopping? The answer is yes, and there are several advantages as well as downsides to doing so.
Google supports the use of multiple CSS partners for Google Shopping. According to Google's support documentation, businesses can use Google Shopping and multiple CSS partners simultaneously. This means you can work with different CSS partners and grab more opportunities to reach customers.
The Benefits of Using Multiple Comparison Shopping Services for Google Shopping
Increased Visibility
Using multiple comparison shopping services can help you increase visibility on Google SERPs and improve brand recognition among consumers who are actively searching for products like yours. This can lead to increased traffic and sales, as well as improved ROI for ad spend.
Access to a Wider Audience and Improved Targeting
Another advantage of using multiple CSS partners for Google Shopping is the opportunity to get access to different audiences. With multiple CSSs at your disposal, you can potentially reach a larger audience and attract more customers to your online store. Each CSS partner has its audience, and by multiplying those you can reach different customer segments. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that sell niche products or have a specific target audience. Also, since the demographics and user bases vary between CSSs, you get the ability to target a more diverse customer base.
More Products on Search Results for Specific Queries
One of the biggest advantages of working with multiple CSS partners that you can get is the ability to display more products in Google Shopping ads per search result. Getting more of your products into search results for a specific search term means that you improve the chances of making a sale. By using just one CSS, you won't be able to do that—only a single product of yours may appear in the search result for a query.
Deeper Data Extraction and Analytics
By using multiple comparison shopping services, you can gain broader insights into different markets and niches, and gather valuable data that you can then use to improve your overall e-commerce strategy and tactics. With multiple CSSs, you can get access to more detailed analytics that can help you make informed decisions.
Improved Competitor Monitoring
By monitoring your competitors on multiple comparison shopping services, you can stay up-to-date on their pricing, promotions, and marketing strategies, and adjust your approach accordingly. With this data, you can tweak your pricing and marketing strategies to win over the competitors and attract price-sensitive customers looking for the best deal.
More Opportunities for Partnerships
Using more comparison shopping services means more opportunities for building partnerships or collaborations with other e-commerce businesses—this can help you reach new customers and increase sales.
The Downsides of Using Multiple Comparison Shopping Services for Google Shopping
Using multiple CSSs also brings in challenges that you should be aware of.
- Complex management. Managing multiple comparison shopping services can be complex and time-consuming, requiring businesses to allocate more resources to advertising management.
- Increased costs. Using multiple comparison shopping services can result in higher advertising costs as businesses have to pay fees for each platform used.
- Conflicting strategies. Different comparison shopping services may have different advertising strategies and approaches, which can conflict with each other and create confusion.
- Difficult to track performance. With multiple platforms to manage, it can be difficult to track each platform accurately, making it challenging to determine the effectiveness of each service.
- Risk of duplicate content. Using multiple comparison shopping services may increase the risk of duplicate content negatively impacting SEO and online ranking.
Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of using multiple comparison shopping services before implementing them in your e-commerce strategy. See this blog post for more details.
Using Bidbrain as a CSS
Bidbrain offers a combination of CSS services and Google Shopping tools to help businesses improve their e-commerce. Among the key features that Bidrain offers are product feed optimisation, automated rewriting of product titles, advanced AI for bidding, extraction of unique insights, and activation of products without historical data. Other benefits of using Bidbrain for Google Shopping include
- better Merchant Centre support
- ability to use rice comparison data for automated bidding when running Bidbrain campaigns
- easy self-service setup that is available in nearly every market in Europe.
Additionally, Bidbrain offers flexible interaction models for e-commerce businesses, allowing them to either use Bidbrain tools for Google Shopping optimisation without CSS or use CSS services without the Google Shopping tools.
More information about Bidbrain can be found on this page.
Final Thoughts
Using multiple comparison shopping services for Google Shopping can be a win for e-commerce businesses. It can increase visibility, reach different audiences, provide more opportunities to reach customers and display more products in Google Shopping ads. At the same time, using multiple CSSs should be done wisely to avoid potential challenges and issues. If you're an e-commerce business looking to increase your presence on Google Shopping, you should consider working with multiple CSS partners but also take into account all pros and cons of doing that.
