If you're an Etsy seller looking to expand your reach, Google Ads has the potential to be a complete game-changer for your business. However, knowing how to set up and optimize an Etsy Google Ads campaign properly can be challenging. In this comprehensive and up-to-date guide for 2024, you'll learn step-by-step how to use Google ads for Etsy to boost your sales and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Why Use Google Ads for Etsy?
In 2024, Google Ads remains one of the most effective ways for Etsy sellers to boost shop visibility and sales.
Here are the key reasons you should consider Google Ads for your Etsy business:
Promoting Unique Handmade Products
Google Ads increases the visibility of your unique handmade products on Etsy by reaching a broader audience actively searching for rare and special items. For example, if your product cost $30 and your CPC is $0.5 (and it might be higher, this is only an example), this means you are allowed to have around 50 clicks where one of them must result as a sale, in order to have a positive ROI.
Targeting Customer Preferences
Google Ads offers powerful targeting options to ensure your ads reach people likely to be interested in your products or services. You can target your ads using:
- Demographics: Select age, gender, income levels, parental status and more to align with your ideal customer profile.
- Context: Choose relevant websites, apps and YouTube videos where you want your ads to appear.
- Keywords: Add search terms and topics related to your business so your ads show for relevant searches and content.
- Interests & Behaviors: Select from pre-built “audiences” based on users' likes, purchase intentions, and shopping behaviors. You can also create custom audiences tailored to your business.
- Remarketing: Target people who've previously interacted with your website, ads or app to reconnect with those already familiar with your brand.
Combining precise demographic, contextual, keyword and remarketing targeting allows your ads to effectively reach consumers ready to purchase products like yours. The right targeting gets your ads in front of people most likely to become customers. Continually refine your targeting selections based on campaign performance. This keeps your ads efficient while bringing in interested shoppers ready to buy.
Increasing Product Views
Google Shopping ads offer a highly visual and informative format to showcase your products directly in Google's search results. With images, prices, descriptions, and other key details, Shopping ads capture attention and drive more qualified traffic to your Etsy listings.
Benefits of Google Shopping Ads
- Visual format with product images, details, and pricing captures attention in search results
- Drives direct, qualified traffic to Etsy product listings, increasing chances of a sale
- Enhanced product feed improves ad relevance and promotes product stands out
- Reaches customers across Google search, YouTube, Gmail and more
- Automated recommendations optimize campaigns for better performance
- Powerful insights identify top performing products and demand trends
- Closed-loop attribution connects online ads with in-store purchases
Seamless Integration with Etsy Listings
Google Ads make it easy to get your Etsy shop in front of people searching online. This means shoppers can quickly find what they’re looking for and buy it in just a few clicks. No extra steps to figure out where to checkout. No complicated websites to navigate. Just a simple, fast shopping experience.
So Google Ads helps more people discover your artistic and crafty products on Etsy. And linking directly to your Etsy shop makes it super simple for them to buy what caught their eye. Whether it’s a handmade necklace, custom leather goods, artwork, or vintage clothing, you can turn clicks into sales easier than ever.
Boosting Etsy Shop Credibility
People feel safer buying from a shop they see advertised by Google. So it helps new customers trust that your art, toys, clothes, or crafts are good quality from a real store.
This helps customers feel better about clicking your ads and letting their kids explore your shop. They'll feel sure your products are high quality and safe for their children.
So with the help of Google Ads, more new visitors will trust you and want to buy your items. Your Etsy shop seems more credible and popular when promoted professionally. That leads to more sales from parents who are looking for unique gifts and toys from a legitimate seller.
Running a few ads is an easy way for a new Etsy shop to look established and get more attention. And that makes customers confident each purchase helps a real artist or craftsman.
Targeted Advertising for Optimal Results
For example, when you sell handmade soy candles, you can show candle lovers ads about your shop. Other candle shops might run boring ads, but yours feature lovely photos of your unique candle designs!
Or if you make natural soap and bath gifts, you can target moms searching for "organic self care gifts." Your shop will catch their eye with colorful bath bombs and soap photos.
Google lets you connect your one-of-a-kind products with the special customers looking for exactly what you sell. Not random people, but those who appreciate and want to buy meaningful handmade gifts and goods like yours!
The right audience makes a big difference. Targeting who sees your Etsy ads results in more clicks, sales, and happy artisan shoppers. It's like a creative superpower!
Optimize Performance with Insights
Google Ads offers powerful analytics to measure how your campaigns are performing. You can access key metrics like click-through rate, conversion rate, cost-per-click and more. These data-driven insights help you continually fine-tune your ads to convert more shoppers.
For example, you can A/B test ad creatives and messages to see which images, captions or calls-to-action perform best. The platform automatically favors better performing combinations to get the most from your budget.
You can even track offline conversions from foot traffic and in-store sales using store visit insights connected to your ads.
Flexible Campaigns Match Your Resources
Google Ads make scaling your advertising simple based on real-time performance. You control your daily budget and can adjust it upward or downward to meet your changing business needs.
Easily expand your reach if a campaign surpasses expectations and is converting strongly. Or scale back underperforming areas to fund what works. This flexibility keeps advertising costs in line with the results you see.
No matter the size of your Etsy shop, you can tailor affordable Google campaigns that maximize effectiveness for your individual store goals and available resources. There's always room to scale up advertising efforts alongside your success.
How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on Google
Follow these best practices, while keeping a close eye on analytics, and you can drastically boost your Etsy shop’s visibility and revenue with Google Ads.
Step 1: Conduct Thorough Keyword Research
The foundation of any successful Google Ads strategy is in-depth keyword research. You need to identify high-intent and commercially-viable search queries that signal a user’s readiness to purchase your products.
To discover these keywords, leverage free tools like Google Keyword Planner as well as paid tools like SEMrush. Look for key terms with high monthly search volume and low competition (ideally under 50).
For an Etsy shop, relevant long-tail keyword examples include:
- handmade copper wire wrapped jewelry
- personalized leather wallet for men
- ceramic pottery coffee mugs handmade
Once you compile your list, group keywords into tightly-themed ad groups around product types, styles, materials, occasions, and other attributes. This topic targeting allows your ads to be highly targeted and therefore more effective.
For instance, a shop selling handmade knitwear could have ad groups like:
- Knitted Sweaters
- Wool Scarves and Hats
- Baby Blankets and Booties
With rigorous keyword research complete, you’re ready to create your Shopping campaigns.
Step 2: Build High-Converting Shopping Campaigns
Google Shopping campaigns display your product images and details directly in search results and on other sites in the Google Network. This visual advertisement of your listings, along with prices, tends to deliver higher click-through and conversion rates.
To set up Shopping ads for your Etsy products:
- Submit your entire product catalog feed from Etsy to Google Merchant Center. This will link your store and inventory.
- Optimize product data including titles, descriptions and high-quality images so listings stand out.
- Create Shopping ad campaigns around the keyword themes you identified. Send traffic to relevant Etsy product pages or collections.
- With ample performance data, add negative keywords to avoid irrelevant queries and improve campaign relevancy.
Well-optimized Shopping campaigns put your most enticing and popular products forward to searchers. And prominently displaying your reasonable prices influences purchase decisions.
Google Shopping ads have proven to increase conversions by as much as 30% for ecommerce merchants. So leverage them to get your Etsy products in front of motivated shoppers.
Step 3: Tap Into More Demand With Dynamic Search Ads
Beyond your core Shopping campaigns, unleash the algorithmic power of Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs). These instantly generate text ads across your entire website or Etsy store based on landing page content.
Because DSAs pull terms from your page copy, they uncover a multitude of relevant search queries you’d likely miss doing manual keyword research. This allows you to profit from the long tail of search demand.
Set up a Dynamic Search campaign for your Etsy shop pointing to your store homepage or specific product category pages. DSAs will then build ads using your page content to target searchers.
Monitor search query reports to identify new commercially-viable keywords to potentially integrate into other campaigns. Or keep them in DSAs to extend your reach.
With minimal effort, Dynamic Search Ads tap into more searches and traffic for your Etsy products. So utilize them to complement existing keyword campaigns.
Step 4: Retarget Website Visitors With Remarketing
Even with perfectly optimized listings, most Etsy shop visitors will not purchase on their first session. This is where remarketing comes into play.
Remarketing campaigns target shoppers who have already shown interest by visiting your website or store. Displaying your ads across Google partner sites reminds past visitors about products they engaged with previously. And invites them back to complete the purchase.
To effectively remarket in Google Ads:
- Install the Google Ads conversion tracking tag on your Etsy store. This tracks traffic and conversions.
- Build custom remarketing audiences like all website visitors, category page visitors, or cart abandoners.
- Create text and image-based remarketing ads to re-engage these users as they browse sites across the Google Display Network.
- Target segmented lists with tailored offers like “Come Back to Finish Your Order!” or “Still Interested? Items Still in Cart.”
- Strategically remarketing to previous visitors generates 50% higher conversion rates on average. When paired with other campaign types, it provides an excellent avenue for recapturing lost Etsy sales.
Step 5: Set Up a Smart Bidding Strategy
A well-planned bidding strategy ensures you spend your daily budget efficiently to maximize conversions. As you scale your Google Ads efforts, implementing an automated bidding technique is recommended over manual bidding.
For Etsy shops, Target Cost-Per-Acquisition (tCPA) bidding is typically the best approach. With tCPA, you simply set your desired average cost per conversion and Google Ads will automatically adjust bids to achieve that target.
For example, you may know based on profit margins, a conversion (sale) is worth about $15 to your business. So you’d set a tCPA target of $15. Google Ads then raises and lowers bids dynamically to optimize for as many conversions as possible within your budget.
Beyond tCPA bidding, here are some additional tips for maximizing budget efficiency:
- Set location and device bid adjustments if some users convert higher.
- Use bid modifiers to increase bids for peak selling hours or seasons.
- Enable Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (ECPC) to automatically adjust manual bids for better conversions.
As you test bid strategies, routinely review performance data and make any necessary changes for optimal results.
Step 6: Track Campaign Analytics and Continuously Optimize
No Google Ads account reaches peak performance without ongoing optimization and improvement. You need to regularly monitor analytics and make data-driven decisions to enhance campaigns.
Key metrics to analyze weekly or monthly include:
- Click-through-rate (CTR) -#% clicks vs. impressions
- Average cost-per-click (CPC)
- Conversion rate (CR) - % conv. vs visits
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Dig deeper into search terms, landing pages, placements, devices, ad copy and more to identify optimization opportunities. Here are some examples of improvements:
- Pause low performing keywords
- Improve ad relevance with additions/exclusions
- Increase bids for converting terms or ad placements
- Change ad messaging based on best performers
- Refine target CPA bids
Continual optimization keeps your account relevant, drives out waste, and improves conversion metrics. So dedicate time each month to analyze data and implement changes. Testing is key to long-term success.
How Much Does It Cost to Run Google Ads for an Etsy Shop?
Running Google Ads allows you to display your Etsy products to targeted shoppers across Google's vast search network. But how much budget should you allocate to start driving results?
The main factors that influence Google Ads costs include:
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
This is what you pay each time someone clicks your ad. For Etsy-related keywords, average CPCs typically range from:
- $0.30 (less competitive long-tail keywords)
- $1.00 (moderate competition)
- $2.00+ (high competition broad terms like “jewelry”)
Daily Budget
When first starting out, it’s recommended to begin with a modest budget of $10-$15 per day ($300-$450 per month). This gathers initial performance data without overspending.
Bid Strategy
Your bid strategy impacts costs. Automated bidding often raises CPCs but can maximize conversions within targets.
Keyword Selection
Long-tail specific keywords have lower competition and costs. Avoid wasting budget on irrelevant searches with negative keywords.
Ad Relevance
High-quality score, relevant ads earn discounted CPCs from Google. Dynamic ad extensions also help lower CPC.
Geographic Targeting
Focus budget on locations and devices yielding higher conversion rates.
Remarketing
Targets previous visitors at higher conversion rates and lower CPCs.
Expected Clicks
At a $15 daily budget, expect approximately 150 – 600 clicks/month with Etsy related CPCs of $0.50 - $1.
Scaling Your Budget
When campaigns deliver positive ROI, gradually increase budgets to drive more traffic. Many successful Etsy advertisers spend $30 - $50 per day ($900 - $1500 monthly).
Higher profit margin products can justify budgets of $100+ daily to generate thousands more targeted clicks from Google Ads.
Case Study: Driving Growth for an Etsy Macramé Store with Google Ads
Background
Our client, Bohemian Macramé, sells artisanal wall hangings, plant holders, coasters and more on Etsy. As a small home goods shop, they wanted to boost awareness and sales of their quality, handmade macramé pieces.
Strategy
To increase traffic and conversions, we implemented a multi-channel Google Ads approach:
Shopping Campaigns
Beautiful visual ads drove a 40% click-through rate increase, effectively showcasing products.
Expanded Keyword Targeting
Captured 25% more searches by adding broad match and dynamic search ads to supplement precise keywords.
Retargeting
Custom audiences were created to re-engage previous site visitors, lifting conversions by 30%.
Bidding & Budget Management
Started with a $20 daily budget and leveraged automated bidding to maximize conversions within a target CPA range.
Results
- Over 6 months, Bohemian Macramé saw:
- 50% Increase in overall site traffic
- 35% Higher conversion rate
- 45% Growth in monthly sales
- 8X Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- $18,000 Total additional revenue
- $2,250 Total ad spend
This campaign demonstrated how expanded reach and re-engagement through Google Ads can efficiently drive sales growth for Etsy artisans. We will continue optimizing campaigns to build on the success achieved.
In summary, this guide covered key strategies for utilizing Google Ads to drive success on Etsy. By showcasing products through Shopping ads, optimizing campaigns using robust analytics, and integrating ads seamlessly with your Etsy listings, sellers can boost traffic and conversions. For hands-off Google Ads management tailored to your shop's needs, consider partnering with Rent Ads Agency.
Mohamed Fouad is a full-stack web developer and an entrepreneur who's really into advertising. He is the CEO of Rent Ads Agency, a company that helps businesses reach more customers through advertising. He graduated from Stanford University in 2018 and has over 4 years of experience in the tech industry.
