• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 1, 2013

Williams-Sonoma has found success with Google product listing ads (PLAs). The destination for gourmet foods and professional-quality cookware feeds nearly all its individual product items through the image-based online ad platform. PLAs churn out much higher conversion rates compared with text-based search ads, but there's one big challenge that Laura Landesman, senior eMarketing planner, for the company just can't figure out.

With an advanced PLA feed, Williams-Sonoma has been trying to determine the query searches that lead to products, and how that lead turns into a purchase. It's easier to tell when consumers know exactly what they're searching for, but Landesman from the audience told MediaPost Search Insider Summit attendees Tuesday that most people don't. Consumers tend to search on more general queries.

One general query in particular: All-Clad cookware. Williams-Sonoma sells a copper-core 30-piece set that costs thousands of dollars. Most people don't look for that multi-thousand-dollar set when typing in the words "All-Clad," but for some reason that product SKU continuously serves up. They tried several strategies to mitigate the risk, such as bid it "way down" and "remove it from the bid," but it still continued to serve up. The retailer eventually took it out of the PLA platform. Directing the question to Jennifer Liu, Google senior product manager, Landesman asked "why."

Liu said product listing ads work similar to AdWords in terms of relevancy and what is chosen to show from a query. Today, Google shows relevance to the query, uses models to predict the likely click-through rate (CTR) for specific products, and factors in the cost-per-click (CPC) bid. The products that serve up are historical-based and data-driven. "We constantly run experiments," she said.

Google also has begun to invest more in post-click experiences, Lui said. The product may not get clicked on much, but Google wants to make sure it's the product the consumer wants to see. "That's the key to your particular situation," she said.