Google product listing ads have been spotted every now and then for a while now. The company has been testing them, but now the they have announced that US users will start seeing them more frequently on shopping related queries.

"Each day we see many users come to Google.com to research products and find where to buy them," says Google's Dan Friedman. "To better serve these users, we've been testing a new feature of AdWords called Product Listing Ads. Product Listing Ads works with an advertiser's Google Merchant Center account to serve highly targeted ads that include richer product information directly in the ad itself - including product image, price, and merchant name."

Friedman highlights the following features of Product Listing Ads:

- Pay only for results: Product Listing Ads are charged on a cost-per-action (CPA) basis, which means that you only pay when a user clicks on your ad and completes a purchase on your site. Because Product Listing Ads is charged on a CPA basis, it offers a risk-free way for you to reach a larger audience on Google.com.
 
- List your entire inventory: Product Listing Ads requires no keywords or additional ad text. Whenever a user enters a search query relevant to an item in your Google Merchant Center account, Google will automatically show the most relevant products along with the associated image, price and product name. Product Listing Ads makes it easy for you to promote your entire product inventory on Google.com.

These ads could go a long way for increasing interest in using Google's Merchant Center. When they show up for any given product-related search, they are going to be highly coveted spots for anyone selling those products online.

Currently, the ads are still considered a beta feature, and are only available to a limited number of retail advertisers. In time, however, they will be opened up to more merchants, and the number of Google users who will see the ads will be increased.

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