Have you noticed something odd with your Shopping campaigns?

Are you sat right now searching what changes you might have made to cause a big drop in traffic, scratching your head, spending hours in the Merchant Centre? You’re not the only one.

Since around Friday (20th August 2021), there has been a massive drop in Google Shopping exposure. In some cases, I have seen impressions drop by over 95% literally like that *clicks fingers*

Whilst nothing has been officially confirmed by Google, I have heard fellow PPCers say their Google reps have confirmed that there seems to be a bug. Don’t expect Google to release an official announcement either, that never happens when there is a bug.

It is not ideal at all especially when it is all out of your control, but here are some tips to help in the meantime:

• Tell your clients – be open and honest. This has been a few days now and likely to be a few more, so it is going to be extremely noticeable. Don’t wait until your monthly report.
• Try and reinvest your budget in your next top performing campaigns (Search & Display). Don’t forget to keep an eye on this so you don’t overspend should the bug be fixed quickly.
• Talk to your community, follow #PPCChat on Twitter for example for up-to-date tweets on PPC related subjects
• Speak to your Google Account Strategist if you have one
• Speak to Google support if you have any other questions. Live chat maybe your best bet as the lines are pretty busy
• Personally, I have seen similar trends with some promo and ad extensions, so have a run over your account and see if anything else is impacted; right now, this does seem to be predominantly Shopping.
• Just as a heads up, as the campaigns have been severely impacted, when the bug has been fixed, it is likely your campaigns will go back to “learning phase”, so usual traffic levels will not resume straight away.

Need some expert help with your PPC campaign? Drop us a call or send us a message and we can see how we can help.

Follow me on Twitter @PPCRachel