Due to an EU lawsuit aimed at ensuring fair competition between Google and other price comparison websites, Google offers a 20% margin advantage to Google CSS partners.
When you switch your Merchant Center to Producthero, the 20% CSS partner discount will automatically be implemented in your Google Ads account, there are no actions required for this.
What does the 20% discount look like?
The 20% discount is not a percentage that is directly reflected in your Google Ads account. You also won't see a direct discount on your invoices.
When you advertise via Google, 20% of your bid goes directly to Google and will not be sent to the auction. When you advertise via a CSS partner, your whole bid will go to the auction, which means you have more bidding power in comparison to shops that advertise without a CSS partner. This discount allows you to secure better positions in Shopping Ads and receive more impressions for your Shopping Ads.
In practice, this means that a bid of € 0.80 via a CSS partner has the same value as a bid of € 1.00 via Google Shopping CSS. Advertisers using Google Shopping CSS need to bid 25% more to achieve the same results as those using a CSS partner.
How do you notice the effect of the discount?
Using a CSS partner gives you an advantage when bidding on ads. It’s like being able to increase your bids by 25% without actually spending more. This results in your ads appearing more frequently and attracting more clicks.
Think of it as a volume boost. You can either keep your bids the same and receive more clicks, or lower your bids while getting the same number of clicks at a lower cost.
With a CSS partner, the curve shifts to the left. This means you get the same benefit (more ad views) at a lower effective CPC. The extent of this benefit varies based on your current bid level and goals.
The benefit of the 20% discount depends on your current ad settings. It is most effective if your bids are already relatively high.
Here some articles on our blog page that further explain the effect of the 20% discount: