Google's Latest Mobile PLA Addition

Always keeping us on our toes, Google’s made another update to the Shopping space. Specifically on mobile devices, we’ve seen a new PLA format appear where a user is shown Category options rather than the actual Product Listing Ad.

As you’ll see in the screenshot below, when searching for the term “madewell denim,” rather than being shown the standard product listing images we’re given the option of “Shirts & Tops” and “Dresses” categories.

Once a user clicks on a category, they’re directed to a Shopping page which contains 20 listings, with PPC ad units at the bottom of the page. There is also an option to “refine” your search in the top right hand corner.

As you can imagine, the questions are churning here at PMG:

How will reporting work with this new format?

What’s the expected performance effect across all search channels (Organic, PPC, PLAs) as we’re seeing both Paid Search and Organic results being pushed further down the page?

Are we going to see a decrease in CTR as the user will now have to click twice to get to the site? In addition, the Shopping page has 20 PLAs compared to the 3-6 horizontal listings previously shown on mobile devices.

Will this update carryover into desktop?

Anxiously awaiting more info from Google!