FAQs

The Google Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) Programme allows merchants to choose a partner to display shopping ads on their behalf. Following a €2.4bn fine by the EU in 2017 for breaking competition rules, Google allowed other comparison shopping sites to place ads within the Shopping carousel. All shopping ads are displayed via a CSS; this is shown by the link at the bottom of the ad (e.g. ‘by Productaster’).

A Google Comparison Shopping Services Partner (CSS) is a price comparison website which allows users to search and compare the different prices for a product from multiple merchants.

A merchant’s products will be shown on the CSS’s price comparison website. The CSS website link will also be displayed at the bottom of any shopping ad displayed in the Google SERP. Users can navigate to the price comparison site by clicking on the ‘by Productcaster’ link.

By default, merchants will advertise via Google’s own CSS; however, switching to another partner is a straightforward process.

Productcaster is a Google CSS Premium Partner. A Premium CSS Partner is in the top 5% of Comparison Shopping Services in Europe and represents more than 500 merchants with shopping campaigns. We receive enhanced support from Google, which enables us to provide a higher service level. As a Google CSS Premium Partner, we continue to leverage our expertise to optimise product listings, drive higher conversion rates, and ensure our clients achieve maximum ROI.

All merchants must use a CSS to place Shopping ads. When using an alternative to Google’s own CSS, you’ll be able to take advantage of the cheaper CPCs (up to 20% cheaper).

Each CSS partner will have its own commercial model and benefits. At Productcaster, we pride ourselves in providing expert advice and support on all shopping related queries, be it short-term tactical options or longer-term strategic improvements. Productcaster services are provided on a small fixed monthly subscription, providing great service and big savings across your Shopping campaigns.

When comparing CSS providers, it is important to choose a partner that fits your needs.

The Google Comparison Shopping Services Programme is currently available in the following 21 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

It is important to note that while Productcaster can place ads in all relevant countries, not all CSS partners will be available in all countries.

Switching to Productcaster CSS is extremely easy. We need your Merchant Center ID to submit a switch request to Google. Converting your Merchant Center to Productcaster CSS can be instantaneous once accepting the switch request if your Merchant Center is being switched away from Google. If switching from another CSS partner, a grace period may be set by the existing CSS before the switch is complete.

Everything remains exactly the same in both your Merchant Centre and Google Ads account. The only difference is that you will see your Shopping Ads appearing as ‘By Productcaster’ and your discount will be applied if you’re migrating from Google Shopping CSS.

The charge for using Google’s own CSS is applied as a fixed-percentage margin on the cost-per-click paid in the auction – therefore the cost of using Google’s CSS is contained within the overall price you pay for your clicks.

When using an alternative CSS Partner like Productcaster, bids are cheaper due to the fixed-percentage being removed. For example, if you advertise with Google Shopping, and have a £1 bid, after the margin is removed, your bid within the auction would be £0.80; however, when using Productcaster, the full £1 bid would be entered into the auction, meaning greater efficiencies for your campaigns.

Your Google Ads support will not be affected. You will retain any Google Ads Support teams you currently work with directly and you will also still have access to the same support channels as you did before switching to a CSS partner.

As Productcaster is a Google Premium partner, we have access to additional dedicated support and engineering teams that we can leverage for you.

FeedManager is an easy to use, cost-effective and performance-driven tool that allows you to better manage and optimise single or multiple product feeds from one interface and publish them all out to your chosen channels.

FeedManager’s simplicity and ease of use saves you time. Time is crucial in marketing and we want to give you back time that would otherwise be spent on battling to get your feed optimised across multiple platforms.. Productcaster’s FeedManager is simple, intuitive and the best time saving investment you can make.

1. FeedManager is adaptable to each client’s specific requirements e.g. changing the format of outgoing feeds. FeedManager is constantly evolving, and with access to our team of in-house developers, we can work to ensure your growth is not restricted by bespoke parameters or requirements from partners.
2. It enables you to publish your products to partners and channels in the most efficient way possible: on average, Productcaster FeedManager’s speed of publishing is 83% faster than other solutions in the market. There are currently 60+ outgoing partner templates ready within the interface, with new templates being added regularly. It is a simple and quick process to request a new, bespoke template for an outgoing feed that’s not currently in place.

FeedManager is provided as a managed service or as a SaaS product, and full training is provided with both options. Our Client Success team are also on hand for any feed-related queries.

One of the most important factors that determine the success of your ads on different platforms is the quality of the feed. Without a good-quality feed, optimised to its full potential, your ads will not have a dynamic impact on your customers. As part of the onboarding process, Productcaster will help to audit the account and provide a roadmap of focal points, but the main way to quickly improve your feed is optimisations. There are three key modules within the FeedManager Platform, which apply optimisations either at a master feed level, or for individual partners:

Enrichments: Add supplementary information or modify existing values for your products to increase their relevancy, for example, update your descriptions to reflect external events and recent trends.

Transformations: Easily tailor your existing product feed content at scale to make your products more searchable for consumers.

Exclusions: Remove underperforming products or those that aren’t relevant to the audience of your chosen partner.

Yes, there is an advantage to using Productcaster CSS and FeedManager together.

Your position on the Shopping carousel, at the top of the SERP (search engine results page), is dependent on a number of factors, including the bid amount and quality of the feed. Optimising your feed through FeedManager and combining this with the CPC advantage from using Productcaster CSS will result in the best possible relevancy to your target audience and better quality clicks.

Our Client Success Team supports across both services, meaning you have all of your strategies in one place, aligned on driving performance. We also offer discounts to clients using both Productcaster CSS and FeedManager – we do not want price to be a blocker to your growth!

FeedManager is available to use globally in all territories.

There is no downtime when moving feed providers. Our feed experts on the Client Success team work hard to ensure that all existing rules and optimisations are set up prior to the launch date. They will also guide you through the process to launch at a time that’s best for you.

We have a four-point plan to develop a roadmap of activity to inform the testing plan:

1. Audit – A full appraisal to understand your current feed setup and advise on BAU improvements.
2. Setup – We ensure each incoming and outgoing feed is set up to required specifications, including any custom outputs.
3. Launch – Full access to the platform with complete control to manage and optimise your feeds.
4. Upskill – Our team provides training on the platform and is available to offer technical support and recommendations.

Productcaster FeedManager allows marketers to make changes to their product feeds without having to go through any technical or development teams. It was designed to address some of the frustrations marketer’s face on a daily basis when optimising product feed-led marketing channels.

We built it for marketers to use, not just technical teams, so the interface & navigation is intuitive, self-explanatory, and easy to use.

There is no limit to the number of outgoing partners available in FeedManager. Currently there are 60+ outgoing partner templates ready within the interface, with new templates being added regularly.  It is a simple and quick process to request a new template for an outgoing feed. We are confident that we cover most of the necessary outputs required from day 1.

Our easy ‘if’ rules mean that you can apply optimisations in a number of minutes. You can also duplicate rules for different outputs. Our Client Success team will work with you to implement existing rules during the migration period as part of our training and set up programme, but adding additional rules is a matter of minutes rather than a matter of days.

At Productcaster we recognise that your feed management solution should compliment your marketing strategy. That’s why we create personalised tailored packages, designed to include your chosen number of incoming feeds, outgoing feeds and optimisations. Please book a demo to define your bespoke package.