Manage product groups manually

Tips for managing product groups manually

• If you manage a large number of product groups, you can use a bulksheet to manage product groups.

• You can subdivide product groups at any time as you monitor the performance of your campaign. For example, you can use the Product Type Level 1 attribute to subdivide the All products group into an Electronics product group and a Music product group. You can use the Product Type Level 2 to further subdivide Electronics into Computers and Video. If you need to boost advertising for Video, you can increase the max CPC for the Video product group. You can even subdivide product groups by product ID if you find that different products within the same product group require different max CPC.

  

  If you're unsure of what to bid on your new product groups, try using automated rules to automatically increase or decrease max CPC for product groups that generate a specific number of clicks or that lead to a specific number of conversions.

  If a bulk edit or rule includes product groups that are excluded from bidding, the product group might no longer be excluded from bidding. Learn more about bulk edits and changes to bidding.

Create a product group

Here’s how to subdivide your inventory into focused product groups:

1. Navigate to a shopping campaign.

   Steps for navigating to a campaign

   1. In the left navigation panel, click All accounts.
      What if the left navigation pane isn't visible?

   2. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   3. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   4. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser that contains the engine account.

   5. In the "Account" list, click on the engine account that contains the campaign.

   6. In the "Campaign" list, click on the campaign.

   7. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the campaign page.

2. Click the Ad groups tab and click the name of an ad group.

3. Click the Targets▼ tab, and then click Product groups if it isn't already selected.
   The list of existing product groups appears in the table.

4. Locate the product group you want to subdivide and click the subdivide icon   or pencil icon   next to its name.
   If this is the first time you’re looking at the Product groups tab for the Shopping campaign/ad group, you’ll click the subdivide icon   next to the All products product group.

5. In the window that appears, click the list next to Subdivide [name of product group] by and click the plus sign next to the values that you want to make up your new product group.
   
   For example, if you sell women’s shoes and selected the Product type or Category attribute, the values listed could include sandals, dress shoes, and boots. Click the plus sign next to the values that you want to make up your new product group, such as Sandals and Boots.

6. Click Save.

Back in the Product groups tab, you’ll see that All products has been subdivided into your new product groups (Sandals and Boots) and Everything else. You can subdivide Sandals and Boots even further by following the same steps above.

Once you’ve created the product groups for this campaign/ad group, you can adjust your bids for product groups that don’t have subdivisions.

How do I see which products are in a product group?

To see the list of individual products that are in a product group, click the details icon   next to a product group.

Search Ads 360 opens a popup that lists all products in the group by product ID.

Create product groups for missing products

If products or categories of products are currently missing from your feed but you expect them to reappear, follow these steps to create product groups for the missing products:

1. Start creating a product group.

2. On the Product groups tab, locate the product group you want to subdivide and click the subdivide icon   or pencil icon   next to its name.

3. In the window that appears, click the list next to Subdivide [name of product group] by and select a product attribute that contains custom values, such as Brand or Product ID.
   
   If the product attribute doesn't appear in the Subdivide menu, the attribute may be used in a parent product group. In this case, click pencil icon   next to a parent product group and see if the attribute appears. If you're at the topmost parent and still don't see the attribute, the attribute may not be defined in your inventory feed.
   
   For example, to add new brands manually and create product groups for the new brands, select Brand from the Subdivide menu. 

4. At the bottom of the subdivide window, click the "or add bulk values manually" link, enter any additional values manually in the text field that appears, and click Add.
   
   Don't see the "or add bulk values manually" link? This link appears only for attributes that contain custom values, such as Brand or Product ID. The link doesn't appear for product attributes that contain standard values provided by Google, such as Category level 1, Channel, or Condition.

5. Click Save.

What happens to performance metrics when product groups are subdivided?

When a product group is subdivided—either manually by you or automatically by an adaptive shopping campaign—Search Ads 360 keeps all of the metrics associated with the product group. Metrics, including those that occurred before the subdivision, will be attributed to sub groups. For example:

1. For the month of April, you had a product group named Shoes, which received 500 clicks.
   Search Ads 360 records clicks for potential sub groups, but doesn't show the sub groups.
2. At the beginning of May, the Shoes product group was subdivided into Boots and Sneakers.
3. During the month of May, the Boots product group received 325 clicks, and the Sneakers group received 400 clicks.
4. At the end of May, you view the Product groups tab and set the time range to include April and May. The totals will include clicks that occurred prior to creating the sub groups. 
5. The Shoes group reports 1,225 clicks, which includes the 500 clicks from April, as well as the 725 clicks from the sub-groups that were created in May.
   The sub group totals also include clicks that were logged before the sub groups were created. In this case, the Boots sub group reports 625 clicks which includes 300 clicks that occurred in April, before Boots group was created, and 325 clicks from May. The Sneakers sub group includes 200 clicks from April and 400 clicks from May.

Time range: April 1, 2015 — May 31 2015

Product group	Sub group	Clicks (April)	Clicks (May)	Clicks (April and May)
Shoes		500	725	1,225
	Boots	--	325	625
	Sneakers	--	400	600

 

Learn more about reporting on shopping campaigns in Search Ads 360.

Adjust bids for a product group

1. Navigate to a product group that doesn't have subdivisions:

   1. Navigate to a shopping campaign.

   2. Click the Ad groups tab and click the name of an ad group.

   3. Click the Product groups tab if it isn't already selected.

   4. In the Product group column, the subdivide icon    appears next to product groups that don't have subdivisions.

2. Click the Max CPC column next to the product group name.

3. Revise the bid amount in the window that appears.

4. Click Save.

Exclude a product group from a campaign

To prevent a campaign from from displaying ads for a product group:

1. Navigate to a product group that doesn't have subdivisions:

   1. Navigate to a shopping campaign.

   2. Click the Ad groups tab and click the name of an ad group.

   3. Click the Product groups tab if it isn't already selected.

   4. In the Product group column, the subdivide icon    appears next to product groups that don't have subdivisions.

2. Click the Max CPC column next to the product group name.

3. Click Excluded.

4. Click Save.

 

Known issue with excluded product groups

Search Ads 360 reports visits and conversions without performance metrics for excluded product groups. You can ignore the visit and conversion data reported for excluded product groups. 

Excluded product group data also isn't used by Search Ads 360 bid strategies.

 

You can use a filter or a rule to find excluded product groups in Search Ads 360 reports.

Remove a product group

1. Navigate to a Shopping campaign.

   Steps for navigating to a campaign

   1. In the left navigation panel, click All accounts.
      What if the left navigation pane isn't visible?

   2. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   3. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   4. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser that contains the engine account.

   5. In the "Account" list, click on the engine account that contains the campaign.

   6. In the "Campaign" list, click on the campaign.

   7. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the campaign page.

2. Click the Ad groups tab and click the name of an ad group.

3. Click the Product groups tab if it isn't already selected.

4. Locate the product group's parent, and click the parent's pencil icon .
   

5. In the window that appears, click X next to the product group's name.
   

6. Click Save.