If your business has stores people can walk into and you’re not running local inventory ads, you’re leaving an opportunity on the table to connect better with customers in your area and help them find exactly what they need. Local inventory ads, or LIAs, do a great job of improving what’s necessary for local businesses to thrive. That’s the best practice for optimizing your google shopping experience, like on a website, but then buying in another way, like in a store. LIAs make it easy for shoppers to see what’s nearby and ready to buy right now, which can get more people through your doors and put more of your products in their hands.
Meta, Microsoft, and Google all have their take on Local Inventory Ads, but this post is going to focus only on Google LIAs. We’ll walk you through setting up your local product feed. smart ways to advertise your products to shoppers in your area, sharing solid tactics that help you get the most out of the program and bring more customers through your doors.
What are Google local inventory ads?
Google LIAs are ads that help local products meet local shoppers. When a user searches for something they want on Google, LIAs pop up to show the item they’re after and let them know it’s in stock a few blocks away. The ads include real-time stock info and offer easy ways for the shopper to either swing by the store, pick it up, or have it delivered right to their doorstep, all of which push them to buy right away.
These ads make it easier for customers who want to buy something right away from the product listings available in-store and help nearby shops get noticed by people who might walk through their doors.
How to Set up Local Inventory Ads
If you have a business that sells online and in a real store, here’s how to set up local inventory ads step by step. Just go through each step, and you’ll see the good things that come from using LIAs.
Step 1: Connect Your Google Accounts
To use local inventory ads, you need to have and link three Google accounts:
1. Google Business Profile: This free profile shows everything folks need to know about you: name, address, opening hours, reviews, and more.
2. Google Merchant Center: This is the main place where you add and manage product details. The info you upload here can be used in regular Shopping Ads and local shopping ads.
3. Google Ads: You’ll also need a Google Ads account to set up and manage the local inventory ads themselves.
To link these accounts, go to Google Merchant Center, click on settings, and then select your google shopping feed. Next, you can pick the Google accounts you want to connect to Google Merchant Center and link them one by one.
Step 2: Switch on Google Local Inventory Ads and Share Business Info
Log in to Google Merchant Center, look to the left side for ‘Growth,’ under that pick ‘Manage programs,’ then find ‘Local inventory ads’ and hit ‘Get started.’ After that, choose the country your store is in and where you want to run the local inventory ads. Then, fill out the business info, including:
- Your business name
- Your store’s product listings
- A contact number for verification
- Customer service contact info
When everything is filled in, a green checkmark will pop up to say you’re good to go.
Step 3: Pick a Landing Page Experience from 3 Options
The landing page experience is what shoppers will see after clicking a local inventory ad for in-store inventory. You can choose from a few different strategies for enhancing your e-commerce presence. Now, we’ll go over each one so you can manage your product data effectively and pick what fits your store best.
Start by heading to the settings area in your Google Merchant Center account to update your business information. Find the section named “Local inventory ads setup,” then select the country where your local inventory ads are already set up.
Once you’re there, scroll to the area labeled store information to ensure accuracy. You’ll see three choices for how your local store pages can showcase your inventory. Pick the one that fits your business needs the best.
To give you a clearer picture, here’s a quick rundown of each landing page choice and how it could work for you:
- Google-Hosted Local Shop Front: Pick this setting if your product pages can’t say which stores have a specific item. Say you’re a shoe brand with three outlets that might have a showcase of their store inventory, but your page doesn’t show this; then you should select a Google-hosted shop front.
- Merchant-Managed Local Shop Front (Basic): If your product pages can show customers that a particular pair of trainers is in stock at a certain location, the basic merchant-managed front is the store information provided to customers. For instance, if a customer can see that the trainers are waiting for them at their nearby store, you should go with this choice.
- Merchant-Managed Local Shop Front (Full): Opt for the fully managed local shop front if your system can not only show that a product is available at each store but also provide the price and stock info for that specific location.
Step 4: Provide an Example Product Page and a Link to Your Price Guarantee Policy
If you’re using a merchant-managed local storefront, you need to show Google a sample product page. This lets Google check that your pages are ready to support Google Shopping and attract more in-store visits. Just go to the ‘Example product page’ part and paste in the URL of the product page you want to show as your example. You’re done!
The last step is to link your price guarantee policy clearly so customers can easily find and review it. This policy tells shoppers that if they see a price in our Local Inventory Ads that matches the price on your in-store shelf, they can trust they’ll pay that same price.
To do this, click the checkbox that says, “Shoppers can purchase something in-store for the price on my website.” After that, paste the URL for your price guarantee policy so we can check it out.
Step 5: Upload your Product Feeds
Before Local Inventory Ads can run, you’ll need a primary product feed. This master file is like a detailed catalog that tells us everything we need to know about your products or services.
Inside, include things like the product title, description, any images, size, color, gender, shipping info, price, availability, and unique IDs like GTINs. You can either put this file together by hand or use a feed management tool to automatically create and optimize it for you. After the primary feed is safely uploaded, don’t forget to add the local product inventory feed, too.
The local product inventory feed is smaller than your main feed and is less important than the store location info, but it gives helpful details about your brick-and-mortar store. Here’s what it includes:
- Product ID
- Store code
- Availability
- Price
You can set it up in DataFeedWatch in just a few clicks. Make sure that this information stays updated with the latest product data for your inventory so that consumers see the right product ads too. To upload the feed, log in to your Google Merchant Center, go to the Products page, and select the Feeds link.
Step 6: Enable Local Products in Your Shopping Campaigns
Open Google Ads, choose your Shopping campaign, visit campaign settings, locate the Local products section, mark the box that says “Turn on ads for products sold in local shops to attract nearby shoppers,” and save.
If your Shopping campaigns are Performance Max, simply connect your Google Merchant Center to Google Ads and upload a local inventory feed. The ads will automatically appear.
Conclusion
Google Local Inventory Ads bridge the gap between offline shopping at your physical store and online shopping. The magic occurs when people around them are looking for something and noticing the ads at the time when the customer is likely to make the purchase.
It does require some technical setup to get things moving, and maintaining the ads in high-functioning order requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment. But the boosted traffic and sales that retailers see make it well worth the time and effort.
Vijay Sood is a seasoned digital marketer with a passion for driving online growth and innovation. With a robust background in developing and executing comprehensive digital strategies, Vijay excels in leveraging SEO, content marketing, and social media to boost brand visibility and engagement. His expertise lies in transforming data-driven insights into actionable marketing campaigns, helping businesses achieve their digital objectives.
