About Comparison Listing ads

Advertise a group of products from your Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) website with Comparison Listing ads. All CSSs participating in Google's CSS program can place these ads in countries that are part of the CSS program.

How it works

In addition to the carousel of Shopping ads that shows on Google general search results pages, a second carousel of Comparison Listing ads may appear. People can switch between the “Products” view, which shows Shopping ads, and the “Comparison sites” view, which shows Comparison Listing ads.

When someone clicks on a Comparison Listing ad, they are taken to a landing page on your CSS website. You can choose the landing page for each ad and also include the new {shopping_context} ValueTrack parameter, which contains more information about the products that were shown on Google (for example, "Nike running shoes"). This parameter may also be empty.

Each ad is associated with a group of products in your inventory. We recommend that you start with a larger set of products (hundreds or thousands), and then create smaller groups as you see what works.

Create ads that align with your business goals. The more ads you create and the more products they feature, the better the chances are for your ads to appear in response to many different types of queries.

Comparison Listing ads use maximum CPC (cost-per-click) bidding, which means that you set the highest amount that you're willing to pay for a click to your website. Bids are set per ad group (each of which includes a group of products), and not by individual product.

The auction for ad slots in the “Comparison sites” tab runs independently of the auction for ad slots in the “Products” tab.

Minimum requirements

Note that Standard Shopping policies and Google Ads policies apply to Comparison Listing ads. The following requirements must also be met for this ad format:

• The final landing page must be on the domain associated with your CSS account. You may not automatically redirect users to other domains.
• The landing page must not show pop-ups or interstitial pages.
• The landing page must prominently show relevant offers (corresponding to the ad content) from multiple merchants, and allow people to make comparisons. Links from the landing page must lead directly to merchant pages where people can buy the products advertised on the CSS landing page.

How to set up Comparison Listing ads

Before you begin

Before creating a Comparison Listing ad, you'll need to complete the following:

• Create a Comparison Shopping Service account. Learn more about how to sign up as a Comparison Shopping Service
• Activate a Google Ads account for Comparison Listing ads. You’ll need to associate it with your main CSS multi-client account in Merchant Center. Reach out to the support team for this step.
• Link the Google Ads account to the Merchant Center account(s) with the offers you’d like to use for your Comparison Listing ads. Learn more about linking accounts
• Meet the requirements for a Shopping campaign. Learn about the requirements
• Create a Shopping campaign for your Comparison Listing ad. Learn how to create a Shopping campaign

Instructions

Step 1: Create a Comparison Listing campaign and ad group

Note: The instructions below are part of the new design for the Google Ads user experience. To use the previous design, click the "Appearance" icon, and select Use previous design. If you're using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.

First, you’ll need to create a campaign for your Comparison Listing ads.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click the plus button and select New campaign.
4. Select the goal Website traffic or continue without setting a goal.
5. Select the Merchant Center account you’d like to use offers from (this can be your main CSS multi-client account or any other account associated with your CSS) and the target country or feed label you want to target. This country needs to be a CSS program country. You can't change the target country after you've created the campaign.
6. Select Comparison Listing as the subtype of this campaign and click Next.
7. Choose settings for the campaign:
   • Campaign name. Enter a name for the campaign. You'll use this name to find the campaign later. You can change the name after the campaign has been created.
   • Average daily budget. Select how much you're willing to spend on this campaign.
   • Locations. You can use this setting to limit where your ads show to specific locations. You can change this setting after the campaign has been created.
8. Choose settings for the ad group:
   • Ad group name. Enter a name for the ad group. You'll use this name to find the ad group.
   • Bid. Enter the bid for the ad group. This is the cost-per-click bid that will be applied to your Comparison Listing ad. You can change the bid at any time on the “Ad groups” page of the campaign. You'll pay when someone clicks on your ad.
   • Product groups. Choose which products will appear in your ad by selecting product groups. You can create additional levels on the “Product groups” page once the campaign has been created. Here are some important tools you can use to help target your products to your ad for best effect.
     • Subdivide your product groups. You can subdivide the first product group, "All products," to create a more targeted set of products. You can also use CLA custom labels, which are exclusively available for Comparison Listing ads campaigns. Learn about subdividing product groups
     • Exclude product groups containing products that you don't want to show with your ad. Learn more about how to exclude a product group
9. Click Save and continue.

You should have at least 8 highly relevant products in your ad group in order to surface a Comparison Listing ad. However, it’s recommended that you have 1,000 products or more in your ad group. This will allow your ads to show in response to the highest number of queries.

Step 2: Create a Comparison Listing ad

Create the Comparison Listing ad by providing text and a link for your ad. Images will be automatically selected from the offers associated with the ad. It’s recommended that you create a separate ad for each relevant category URL page on your site. The most relevant ad will automatically be shown based on the specific query. Once you've chosen your product groups, you should be ready to create an ad.

1. Add the text for the ad:
   • Headline. The headline is a short text that helps people notice your ad. Include 25 to 45 characters.
2. Add landing page information:
   • Final URL. The final URL is the URL of the landing page you want people to visit after they click on your ad. The landing page you choose needs to be relevant to your ad and the products you're advertising with the ad. Include the {shopping_context} ValueTrack parameter, which will allow you to increase the relevance of the landing page. Also see the minimum requirements above. (Note: You may use one or several click trackers, but they need to ultimately redirect to a landing page on your CSS website domain.)
3. Preview the ad on the right side of the panel. Remember that the products shown together with your Comparison Listing ad are influenced by search terms. Note: To show more relevant ads, it’s recommended to create an ad for each relevant category page on your site.
4. When you're done making changes, click Save and continue.

Your ad will be reviewed to ensure images and text comply with our policies. You can expect a response in 72 hours.

Need help? Click here for Ads support.