What is Shop the Look?
The web giant Google announced the introduction of a new advertising experience on its search engine results. ‘Shop the Look’ will allow advertisers to sell clothes directly in results, and users to buy the products featured. The scope of the new venture will also include home décor items and will be available for mobile devices in the U.S.
Google’s initiative comes as the latest step in an ongoing campaign to optimize mobile shopping. The Alphabet’s subsidiary had previously presented travel solution features on its search engine results and ads in Google Images, integrating deals on hotels, flights, and more to the search experience.
All of these new additions to the search results in Google are based on AdWords. Contrary to popular belief, the Google search engine is not the company’s primary business, it is clicks and advertisement.
Publicity and ads on Google make up for over 90% of Alphabet’s revenue and profits and have done so ever since the introduction of click-based business models.
How does Shoop the Look work?
On the announcement post at Google’s official Inside AdWords blog, the Senior Product Manager for Google Shopping, Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, explained the mechanics behind ‘Shop the Look.’
Upon inputting a search term like ‘business attire for men,’ Google will pull up results depicting various images that match the description. Selecting one of the featured images will open a gallery of retail links for the clothing pieces in the picture.
Therefore, searching ‘business attire for men’ in a mobile device in the U.S. will instantly show images featured by famous brands, bloggers, or influencers subscribed to Google’s Shopping campaigns.
Clicking on a result will show the exact suit, shirt, tie, shoes, and accessories depicted, where to buy them and for how much.
Google optimizes this process by also offering a similar alternative if no data exists on the exact clothing piece shown in an image. ‘Shop for Look’ is an initiative born from the partnership between the search giant and renowned fashion sites like Polyvore, Curalate, and LIKEtoKNOW.it.
Google will compete with Instagram and Pinterest
The system in place also implies that potential partners can create articles for the sole purpose of ranking higher in Google’s search results. The ‘Shop for Look’ feature provides massive visibility online, so brands and retailers might start using the search engine more for its broader showcase.
Social networks like Instagram or Pinterest are designers’ primary place to ‘advertise’ their creations, but Google is unable to index images from the sites as proper search results that allow it to include ads on them. With this new strategy, the Alphabet subsidiary may have found a way around the system and turned the odds in its favor.
Source: Google