Product Listing Ads – Identifying Revenue Through Google Analytics

Kayla Kuruc - October 16, 2012

This week Google will finalize the transition requiring a link between its Merchant Center offering and AdWords interface for the previously free Product Listing Ads. Though they’ve alluded to this change since early summer, the official deadline was posted on their blog earlier in the month. The shift to a commercialized model will reshape the Product Listing Ad experience. The shopping ads online retailers once benefited from for free will no longer run unless connected to an AdWords account.

Since the announcement, many ecommerce businesses have questioned whether or not to make the switch. Some have struggled to identify the ROI needed to rationalize the additional ad budget and account maintenance expenses. However, the true revenue from these powerful paid ads is right at their fingertips using Google Analytics.
Follow these steps to identify your Ad Revenue in Google Analytics:

1. Log in to Google Analytics
2. Identify a time period.
3. In the left-hand navigation, click Traffic Sources > All Traffic.
4. Using the search feature, narrow the traffic result to Googlebase / base. This is the name used by the Google Shopping Feed. Click the magnifying glass to execute the search.

5. Once the results are displayed, click the Ecommerce filter. Revenue will be listed below the graph.

In this example, the company would stand to lose over a million dollars in online sales by not moving to AdWords. It’s important to note that an effective Product Listing Campaign can run for as little as $3,000 a month– generating an unbelievable return on investment.