Hooray for anonymous tipsters. An email from an unknown informs us that Google is launching a new Beta campaign for product ads on their Affiliate network:
We are pleased to invite you to participate in an exciting beta program with the Google Affiliate Network to show product ads on Google. Product ads are paid product listings that appear when users search for products on Google. Through participation in the Google Affiliate Network product ads beta program, you can promote your products to users actively searching for your products and pay only when users make a purchase on your site.
This opportunity is a very tangible benefit of the integration of our affiliate platform into Google. Google is constantly experimenting with new features and visuals to improve ad effectiveness and advance the end user experience.
Google product ads will feature product specific information directly in the ad such as price and product image. During the beta program, Google will be testing to identify the most effective ad formats. Google product ads will complement standard text ads on Google.com and will run independently during the beta. All reports on the performance of Google product ads can be seen through your Google Affiliate Network account.
The Google product ads beta program relies on your Google Base feed. Minimum pricing is your standard publisher rate, plus the network fee. To maximize your competitiveness among advertisers participating in product ads, you are encouraged to increase the CPA rate for your product ads relationship.
Apparently the Beta is only in the US, and reports become available through Google Affiliate network accounts. You can set your commission rate for conversions, and pay only for qualified conversions that take place through Google product ads.
This is directly connected to Google Base, so make sure you have your feed set up correctly! We had been wondering when Google Base would be making a comeback, and this appears to be it – after a weak launch and not much going on, finally Google is starting to push this prioduct. We’ll recap on the blog tomorrow about Google Base and how to utilize it!
Tags: Ads, affiliate network, google base