Once Local Inventory Ads have been activated, we appreciate that the temptation to start searching on your own products is overwhelming at times however, this can have a negative impact - leading to poor results and visibility.
Potential negative impact
Inflated Click-Through Rates (CTR)
When you repeatedly search for your own products, you will naturally generate artificial clicks on your ads, which can lead to an inflated click-through rate.
A higher CTR might seem positive at first glance, but it will distort the actual performance of your ads and make it difficult to accurately gauge their effectiveness. Any strategic planning becomes almost impossible to implement and your trust in the data is impacted.
Increased Costs
One of the big ones! Clicking on your own ads cannibalises your ad budget without any genuine interest from potential customers. This leads to:
Wasted spending
Inefficient allocation of your advertising budget
Ultimately you'll be driving up your advertising costs without meaningful returns.
Negative Impact on Ad Performance
This is one of the biggest impacts for you as it affects your product and store's visibility.
Frequently clicking on your own ads without genuine intent can signal to Google that your ads are not relevant or engaging for users. As a result, your ad's quality score may drop, leading to lower ad rankings, visibility as well as higher costs per click (CPC)
Our Recommendations
So what can you do to check on the performance of your ads?
Instead of searching for your own products, I recommend focussing on other aspects of ad performance evaluation:
Log into the NearSt dashboard to analyse key metrics like Impressions, Clicks, CPC and CTR. Check out this article.
Play around with the period of analysis to identify any patterns.
Check Industry Insights, Local Search Terms and your Popular Products to see the local trends.
Target specific areas where you can see a strong performance from the local community.