
If you’re new to Google Comparison Shopping Services (Google CSS), the number of options on offer can be massive. Even those with a good knowledge of paid search options can get overwhelmed by the variety. Those businesses who want to work with a CSS partner or two might find that it’s a lot to take in.
To try and help you get the best results, we’ve written this article to overview what Google’s Comparison Search Services (CSS) are all about, how they work, and how working with CSS partners can help increase sales and reach more people. The best part? This method won’t drive up your advertising costs. You can save up to 25% of your ad budget straight away by simply switching to the CSS network.
Shopping online is growing year on year and was turbo boosted on the back of the pandemic. As a service in the UK, it expects a 30% growth at least in the next few years and could account for over 20% all retail sales by 2024.
56% of shoppers in Britain use Google for recommendations and discovery purposes already, so it’s clear that your business needs to do well.
What are Google Shopping Ads?
When searching for a product, Google Shopping will automatically display relevant adverts on the results page. These advertisements are generally what we call Product Listing Ads, and these are usually displayed above any paid and organic search results.

The product comparison service that Google offers began life back in 2002 as a free listing service called Froogle. However, since then, it has become vital, being prominent to Google itself, the businesses who use it, and the customers who see the ads.
The overall effectiveness of the Product Listing Ad meant that a paid auction system came into use. The paid service also represented an increase in the number of available listings. It became common to see an increase in the number of shopping ads triggered by specific search terms of products. Showcase Shopping Advertisements followed them. These ads tend to give a highlight reel of the individual products available from one particular brand.
All Google Shopping ads are controlled at the product level, meaning that a data feed has to be made and sent to Google’s Merchant Center to create the ads in the first place. These can be in the either Fixed or Dynamic Feeds.
A fixed feed is a spreadsheet produced in a template format that is uploaded to Google and connects with the Google shopping network. A dynamic shopping feed is produced via a website tool that produces and uploads real times feeds to Google.
If your stock and pricing is static, then a fixed feed is the route you want to go. If your itinerary is constantly changing adding removing or adjusting prices on a daily or weekly basis then the dynamic feed is the best option.
As a form of advertising, Google Shopping has been embraced by retailers and customers alike. It is estimated that in 2018, at least 80% of all paid search spending for ads went straight into Google Shopping, and it gained at least 88% of all the paid advertising clicks that customers made.
What are Google Comparison Shopping Services (Google CSS)?
If you intend to advertise on Google Shopping Ads, the best route to go is via a Google CSS Partner. As mentioned earlier you access Google Shopping and save up to 25% of your budget in the process. What’s not to like?
Essentially, the Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is a website that collects product offers from different retailers, and you can use it to place all the shopping ads that you want, doing so on behalf of merchants in other countries that are part of the European Economic Area.
This means that you can include Google Shopping EU if you want because it is required to operate as a CSS business on a standalone basis, thanks to an EU Commission ruling in 2017. This helps to guarantee equal treatment and access for all Comparison Shopping Services.
It’s tempting to use Google’s EU Shopping business as a default, but you may have to accept the 20% fee for each bid, with zero no flexibility allowed. By running your adds via a Google CSS Partner such as us you can avoid the inflated 20-25% that Google charge you for using their own systems.
Save up to 25% of your shopping budget!
With our PPC management you can get in front of customers when they’re searching for products like yours on Google and save on your advertising spend.
How do Google Shopping Ads work?
The process for Google Shopping Ads works like this:
A Comparison Shopping Service can make a bid for a shopping ad placement. They do so on behalf of the merchant they work with. The merchant who wins the auction then has to pay a cost-per-click (PPC) calculated using the next highest bid. So, to give an example, if your partner puts in an offer of 50p, and the next bid below you is 30p, every time that the advert is clicked, you’ll have to pay 31p.
Other factors which will go into showing your adverts can include things like how relevant they are, as well as the quality score for both the information of the product and the product itself.
The campaign is then enabled using a “product data feed.” This is uploaded straight to the Merchant Center run by Google. All the campaigns have to conform to Google’s Shopping Ads policy, too.
If someone clicks on the product details inside your advert, they get sent straight to the relevant page.
Can Google Shopping restrict my products?

The bulk of retailers can advertise their products across Google Shopping services. Still, like any platform that operates publicly, there will be a handful of restrictions regarding the inventory and content.
Google Advertising adheres to basic editorial standards. These include:
- Displaying the full URL or landing page link.
- Avoiding any letters or symbols in strange ways to attract attention.
- Advertising any websites which don’t work correctly.
Some products aren’t allowed due to being potentially dangerous. These can include tobacco, fireworks, and healthcare products not approved by the relevant regulatory body. Things like alcohol and regulated healthcare products will require specific regulations and guidelines depending on the advertisement’s country.
It is vital to make sure that your product data feed is accurate. Google regularly performs checks to make sure that the information displayed is correct. Any changes to stock or website information can result in a problem. By having a good CSS partner, you’ll be able to work out these issues before they happen.
Being successful with Google Comparison Shopping Services.

So, there are two main areas to think about when it comes to being successful with Google CSS options. First of all, you need to think about your business offerings, and second of all, you need to consider your partner strategy.
The best practice for Comparison Shopping Services conveniently matches up to a well-thought-out eCommerce business plan. It is crucial to explore all of the best options, and also note that a proper plan will enhance your results in other marketing areas, like, for example, Google Shopping, paid search advertisements, and also organic SEO practices.
As a starting point, you need to make sure that your business will meet all of the advertising requirements, as well as make an assessment of the website performance. If you have a reasonable conversion rate already, this can be a strong indicator for success with Google CSS.
An inventory should be priced competitively, and your product information needs to be improved with high-quality images and customer reviews where possible. It would help if you also had a clear display of stock.
Four things will drive your success with Google CSS options:
- Your offerings – a good quality website, data feed, and products will help you get an excellent existing conversation rate.
- Your competitiveness – your products will need to be well-priced, have actual availability, and have good reviews.
- Your market demand – customers should be actively searching for your products, and there should be a high search volume.
- Your CSS strategies – the right brand, marketing strategy, CSS partner, and commission rates will make all the difference.
Final thoughts.
There has never been a better time to use Comparison Shopping Services to take advantage of Google Shopping. Online retail services continue to increase in the UK and using them can give you a whole host of new options for what you do and how you do it.
Thanks to the evolution of Google Shopping Ads, you’ll find even more ways to provide advertisements for branding.
Your next steps to properly benefit from Google’s CSS options are the following:
- Make sure that your products don’t violate any Google Shopping policies for ads.
- Perform a full business audit to ensure that you can offer quality products at competitive pricing.
- Take a look at the requirements for making a product data feed uploaded. Make sure to follow any of the advice given by your CSS partner.
- Contact the IMT CSS team. We have teamed up with Europe’ largest Premium CSS Shopping provider and offer these services and benefits to our clients. We work with Ecomm stores spending from £5k per month to household named brands spending £90k+
- All of our clients enjoy up to 25% of savings on their budgets by simply adopting the CSS system. Imagine how this simple switch could transform your business and help you compete over and above your sector competition.