Google CLA vs PLA

If you are a retailer looking to enter into the e-commerce space, then you are sure to have heard the terms CLA and PLA. Both of these solutions are beneficial for your digital campaigns, when you are looking for a Comparison Shopping Partner (CSS), through which you can effectively connect with your target shoppers.

In our latest Kelkoo Group guide, we explain the differences between Google CLA vs PLA, explain how to set up Google product listing ads and explore the benefits of Google CLA for you and your business.

What is PLA marketing?

Product Listing Ads (PLA) are also known as Google Shopping Ads. They are online advertisements that companies pay for on a cost per click (CPC) basis. As a retailer using product listing ads, you only pay for the times that a user clicks on the ad. No payments are made if a user sees an ad but decides not to click. Retailers can set up Google Shopping Ads by signing up with Google direct or via a Comparison Shopping Site (CSS) that is recognised by Google.

A CSS must have a minimum of 100 merchants to gain Premium Partner status. Kelkoo Group were the first CSS to achieve this. We currently have around 5,500 merchants utilising our ‘Google Shopping Ads by Kelkoo’ service across 16 countries. Choosing a CSS with Partner status guarantees you an improved level of service and expertise.

How will this affect my PLA feed?

Kelkoo Group provides full support during your feed migration and set-up process. You will be able to maintaining your existing Google account management. No changes will be made to your current ecosystem, meaning that you can capitalise on incremental spend match and be up and running in 48 hours.  We offer hosted, managed or hybrid models for all Google Shopping Campaigns, depending upon your business needs, providing comprehensive competition analysis and automated business engines.

What is Google CLA?

Comparison Listing Ads (CLA) is a new secondary tab, displayed as part of the existing Google Shopping Ads boxes on the Google search listings pages. This new ad placement, referencing participating CSSs, will redirect users to a product result page on the CSS website. CLA will therefore increase the visibility of all the merchants on the CSS.

The comparison ads include a collection of products that are available on CSS sites and are accompanied by a custom text and logo. This placement within Google search pages will enable online shoppers to access an inventory of products through one CSS provider and brings additional qualified traffic to merchants on those CSSs.

Why is this good news if you are a merchant?

Google’s CLA new solution will provide a source of traffic to CSS sites, and we can provide more additional qualified e-shoppers to the CSS merchants. The better positioned merchants are on their CSS results pages, the more they will benefit from this additional traffic. 

What additional functionalities does Kelkoo Group offer, aside from providing a CSS for my business?

In addition to a CSS solution, Kelkoo Group offers unique competition analysis, enabling you to identify the top keywords for your Google Shopping Ads campaigns within your market. This enables retailers to benchmark their campaigns against their key competitors, by comparing Google Shopping Ads rankings, prices and any other offers that could affect the performance of your online store.

Partnering with Kelkoo Group will enable you to create a tailor-made pla marketing strategy in line with your needs. We offer a portfolio of products including Bing Shopping Ads for targeted, transparent marketing, white label technology to support you with the inception and creation of your own CSS site and custom options with on-hand support from our multilingual development teams.

Our technology can be developed to meet with your requirements. We offer a Competition Analysis tool can to provide more intelligent, automated reporting to further inform bidding strategies, overall campaigns and product pricing.