ROIshopper Shopping CSS

A Google CSS partner is in fact a price comparison site, which enables the customer to find the best price when looking for a product, and directs the buyer to the merchants’ site. Google Shopping is nothing else than Google’s own CSS service. The Google CSS Partner Program launched in order to comply with the EU anti-monopoly regulations, and enables merchants to advertise using more CSS providers, not just Google (like before). Anybody who possesses the CSS Partner badge can run Shopping advertisements (on behalf of the e-merchant it represents) and participate in Shopping campaigns. What is more, CSS Partners have a 20% price advantage when they are bidding against Google CSS. This is in the interest of Google to speed up the takeup of Shopping campaigns in every EU country it has launched.

The CSS program is constantly evolving, and Google is very much interested in making the service as popular as possible. Unlike some allowances that were only given out in the beginning, the 20% price advantage for CSS Partners will most likely be around for a long time, which makes advertising through a Partner highly efficient.

The CSS Partner runs Shopping campaigns on behalf of the e-merchants it represents. There are other CSS services available aside from Google’s, where e-merchants can advertise, and it is possible to advertise on multiple CSS services at the same time (however, this requires multiple Merchant Center accounts and related campaigns).

Every CSS Partner receives a 20% discount on its CPC rates in Shopping campaigns in order to be competitive against Google CSS. In practice, this means that a bid of 1.6 EUR from a Partner in the course of auction has the same value as a bid of 2.0 EUR from Google CSS. The ones who advertise through Google CSS have to bid with a 25% higher bid in an auction against the ones who advertise through a CSS Partner.

This discount is not an actual refund on CPC spending, but a bidding advantage against Google CSS. The easiest way to understand is like this: the discount has the same effect, as staying with Google CSS and raising your bid value by 25%. Your ads (through a Partner) start from a better position, participate in more auctions, and will likely achieve more impressions.

If you work with a CSS Partner, you will receive the 20% price advantage with automatic bidding settings, but will have less playroom then with manual settings. In case of using manual settings, it is much more difficult to have control over actual CPC values and number of displays. Nevertheless, the discount will apply anyay, and if you do not change your CPC/ROAS setup you will earn a higher number of conversions, or earn the same amount of conversions at a better price with lower CPC/higher ROAS.

It is possible to run testing, but it is a complicated and time-consuming process. A separate Merchant Center account has to be created through the Partner, and it has to be connected with the exact copy of the campaigns running in Google Ads. It is also worth noting that the account has no Ad Rank history yet, and CPC settings have to be adjusted in order to get a relevant test result. Two campaigns with the same set of targeted products cannot and will not run in paralell. So testing is only possible comparing before and after periods or separating products into groups. In neither case it is an apples to apples comparison.

Most users running tests have very swiftly switched to live campings, as the advantage of advertising through a CSS Partner became obvious very quickly.

In order to provide the service, we only need access to the Merchant Center feed, we won’t receive any data from accounts and campaigns. Of course, if needed, we can offer advice related to campaigns (this requires access to the campaigns), but this is not a prerequisite and not part of the CSS service.