How can advertisers use shopping ads to grow sales?
Correct Answer
By taking advantage of Google customer reviews and offering merchant promotions
Key takeaways
Customer reviews and merchant promotions make the listing itself more persuasive.
Both work inside the ad unit, where the shopper makes the decision.
You can never select a position on the results page — the auction decides.
Why is this the correct answer?
Shopping ads grow sales by making the listing itself more persuasive, because the shopper decides before the click. Google customer reviews add a seller rating drawn from post-purchase feedback, and merchant promotions attach a special offer link to the product. Both add something the competing listing next to yours may not have — trust in one case, a reason to act now in the other — and both work inside the ad unit rather than on the landing page.
Why are the other options wrong?
By choosing color schemes that match their website’s appearance and style
Advertisers cannot restyle a Shopping ad. Google renders the image, price, title and merchant name in a fixed layout, which is what keeps listings comparable.
By targeting shoppers by college degrees, employment positions, and leadership roles
Degree, job title and seniority targeting belong to professional networks, not to Google Shopping. Shopping matches on product data and audience signals rather than employment attributes.
By selecting a specific location on the search results page for their ads to appear
Position cannot be purchased in any Google Ads format. Bids and quality signals influence where you appear, but the auction decides.
Other sites list a different answer
Several exam-answer sites give the answer as By selecting a specific location on the search results page for their ads to appear. We believe that is wrong.
No Google Ads format lets an advertiser buy a position. Placement is decided in the auction every time an ad is eligible, based on bid and quality signals, so position can be influenced but never selected. Google's own answer to this question is the reviews and promotions option, and an almost identical question elsewhere in this exam is marked that way.
Frequently asked questions about this topic
How do I get seller ratings on my Shopping ads?
Join the Google customer reviews programme in Merchant Center, which adds a post-purchase survey opt-in on your order confirmation page and collects ratings over time. A minimum volume of reviews is needed before stars display, so it takes a while to appear on a new account.
Can I influence position at all?
Yes, indirectly. A higher bid and stronger quality signals — feed quality, relevance and landing page experience — improve your chances of the more prominent slots. What you cannot do is pick one.
Topics in this question
About the Shopping Ads Certification
The Shopping Ads Certification checks that you can run retail campaigns end to end: product data in Merchant Center, linking it to Google Ads, and choosing between Standard Shopping and Performance Max to drive sales and value.
Exam guide and all 407 Google Ads Shopping questions →Related Google Ads Shopping questions
- 1How can advertisers use Shopping campaign ads in order to drive sales?Explained
- 2Your website data shows that many visitors place items in their shopping carts, but fail to complete the purchase. You want to grow your business by increasing sales. What should you do first?
- 3Aaron’s been running Shopping ads for some time, and he’s interested in experimenting with ways to improve sales performance by using additional features. Which benefit might he obtain by using Merchant Promotions?
- 4Which two features, available as additions to Shopping Campaign ads, can benefit marketers and drive sales? (Choose two.)Multiple correct
- 5Courtney sells handbags through her online boutique. Her online normal campaigns have produced a lot of clicks but not as many sales as she expected. How would Google Shopping ads help make sure the clicks the ads receive come from customers more interested in her products?
- 6Shopping ads help online businesses drive sales even before potential customers open ads for their products. That’s because shoppers are more likely to complete a purchase under what conditions?