This page provides answers to common questions about local inventory ads.
Campaign setup
Do I have to create campaigns specifically for local inventory ads?
No, not necessarily:
- If you’re using Shopping campaigns only, we recommend you enable local in your existing Shopping campaigns.
- If you’re using Performance Max campaigns, local inventory ads will automatically be eligible to serve unless listing groups are filtered to serve only on online channels, or products only available online. Learn more about enabling local inventory ads in your campaigns.
To optimize for offline sales only, we do recommend creating a dedicated Performance Max for store goals campaign with local inventory ads. Learn more about how to Create a Performance Max campaign with a store goal.
Should I create different campaigns for online and local offer targeting?
No, not necessarily. You may choose different campaign structures depending on your objectives.
If you’ve recently onboarded to local inventory ads, you’re looking to optimize for omnichannel return on ads spent, and don’t have separate budgets for offline and online, you can target both online and local offers in the same campaign to drive better omnichannel results.
If you have separate budgets for online and offline, or want to prioritize driving in-store sales, you can create a Performance Max for store goals campaign, or a separate Shopping campaign targeting only local offers, to drive offline visits and sales.
How can I target only local offers in my campaigns?
For Shopping campaigns, enable local products in the campaign settings, and leverage product groups to divide your targeted inventory by “channel”, selecting “local stores”.
In Performance Max campaigns, go to asset groups > listing groups and subdivide inventory by channel > local stores.
What campaign goals should I choose to optimize for local inventory ads?
Along with your online goals, you can add store goals, such as store visits or store sales if you’re eligible, to drive better omnichannel results.
Work with your Google contact to develop a strategy for your campaign.
What geo-targeting setup should I use when targeting local offers in my campaigns?
In Shopping Campaigns, select the country where your products will be sold and shipped to. Ads will only be shown to people from the country you selected.
For Performance Max campaigns:
- If you’re using Performance Max for store goals, we recommend keeping geo-targeting to “all countries” and leveraging listing groups to target desired stores.
- If you’re using a Performance Max campaign optimizing to omnichannel goals, we recommend aligning your geo-targeting with offer eligibility at the country level.
Should I still target local offers if I’m not eligible for store visit conversions or store sales?
The local inventory ads feature allows you to showcase your products and store information to nearby shoppers searching with Google, and can be enabled in any Shopping or Performance Max campaign aimed at driving sales.
If your goal is both local and online success and your account is not yet eligible for store visits or store sales, you can set up a Performance Max campaign for omnichannel goals with local actions conversions.
What's the best way to make sure my local inventory ads don’t cannibalize clicks from my online shopping ads?
We recommend you enable local in your existing online Shopping campaigns or set up a Performance Max campaign with local inventory ads. This allows Google to serve the best ad format for a shopper based on their location, device, and product availability.
Note however, that Performance Max campaigns will be prioritized over existing Shopping campaigns that run the same products in the same account. When your Performance Max campaign starts to run, the spend in those Shopping campaigns will significantly decrease regardless of budget breakdown, and Performance Max will ramp up in its place.
Bidding and optimization
How do I make sure my campaigns can show all my local inventory?
If you’re using Performance Max campaigns for Retailers, both online and local inventory will automatically serve, unless your listing groups are filtered only for one of the two. Learn more about how to Create a Performance Max campaign with local inventory ads.
In Shopping campaigns, create an "All products'' campaign to ensure that you’re surfacing all active products in the local feed. Learn how to Manage a Shopping campaign with product groups.
Tip: You can also boost your local inventory ads performance with pickup options, and promote products that may not be available in store now, but can be available for store pickup within a few days. Learn more About pickup later.
How do I make local inventory ads more visible in areas near my store locations?
Google Ads offers different ways to optimize visibility near your stores.
If you’re using Shopping campaigns:
- Enable location assets: Enable these assets in your campaign for specific locations. You can apply positive bid adjustment to the radius of all your Business Profiles.
- Set up location targeting: Select a location, such as city or state. Then, select a radius to target.
If you’re using Performance Max campaigns:
- Create location groups and select which one to target in your campaign settings under “store locations”.
- Create a Performance Max for store goals campaign with local inventory ads to drive offline only visits and sales.
How do I prevent my online conversions from dropping when I enable local for my campaigns?
Campaigns will continue to optimize towards the conversion goals you’ve set for your campaign.
You can work with your Google contact to develop a strategy for your campaign.
How should I value my store visits or store sales conversions when targeting local inventory ads?
If you’re measuring online conversions and capturing revenue information, you can also value store visits or store sales to estimate in-store revenue. This way, you can measure total revenue and return on ad spend.
Learn more About store visit conversion value and store sales conversion value.
Performance evaluation and reporting
Can I see how my local inventory ads and online ads each perform for local-enabled campaigns?
Yes.
In Shopping campaigns, you can segment your campaigns by click type. Segmenting breaks out performance data for local inventory ads and Shopping ads. Learn more about segmenting by click type.
In Performance Max campaigns, you can add the “channel” dimension in pre-defined reports in Report Editor or add the column in the listing groups tab at Asset Group level.
Learn more about reporting for local inventory ads.
How do I view the performance of my local inventory ads and online ads by device?
Follow these instructions:
- In your Google Ads account, click Insights and reports.
- Click Report editor.
- Select “Shopping products” predefined report.
- Add “Channel” and “Device” columns.
How do I see my store visits performance of my local inventory ads and online ads?
You can add Store Visits columns in your campaigns. Learn more on how to Show store visits conversions and how to View the store report.