Testing is good, testing is great. Testing can show us what works and what doesn’t. It all boils down to experimenting with different things and seeing what works the best. Google does this, and they do it often. Quite often. But this isn’t a bad thing. I would much rather see Google do some testing with features before making them final features without question. Last month, we saw Google running a test that ranked product listing ads (PLAs) by ratings and reviews in the search results. It seems that Google is at it again by doing new test groups that rank products by price.
Basically, PLAs are grouped in two pricing stacks. One stack is for products listed under “Up to $30”, while the second stack is for anything “Over $30”. Any of the products that are found within the first stack are ordered by price.
In the example screenshot provided by CPC Strategy below, you’ll notice something a bit strange. In the second group, there seems to be an outlier. There is a sandal from Nordstrom for 36.95 that is listed after two higher priced shoes from Keen.
Granted, we have to remember that this is strictly a test, and this could simply be a minor out-of-place bug or glitch. This test could very well have some major impacts on pricing strategies for any e-commerce advertisers. Issues could arise if the pricing cut-offs range by search result and/or product type.