How do you guys deal with product description and titles in PLA for different variation products?

[Sorin_T]

Hello guys!
I have to say that I have been browsing, reading, learning and so on Moz for a long time now, and when I had a question to ask I was scared of askings so I don't look stupid but since I've asked my first question a few weeks ago and got a really helpful answer that helped me to no longer think like that. Therefore here is my question:

What is the best way of writing product description and titles on Google PLA for product variation? Let's say you have a rope for example which come in different diameter and colour. Right... The title yes it should include variation such as Brand Size Model Colour Other Attributes on each individual product title but the question is .. does to description has to be different for each product so that you also include the attributes for the given product variation?

I hope someone out there will understand my question and come up with a good answer.

Thank you!

[Sorin_T]

Hi yes, I agree. What I found really annoying is that some of the product groups they still have a high Search Lost IS because of ad rank but I have submitted every single attribute I could possibly think of, also wrote a very long description of the product with high def. product images and still can't see much improvement. I guess the last thing would be to look into bids but trouble is that the Benchmark CPC is lower than what we bid.. This is all very strange. Trouble is that because I have lots of different product types with different brands I cannot find a proper rule in to put in place for google merchant center to create the product title, therefore, we more likely write each product title separately and still the Lost IS ad rank is still high..

Regards,
Sorin

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Sorin

I think that resulting Google title should always be like this:

Brand, Product Title, Colour, Size

Google pretty much does this.

If you list very few products then you can send them individually with colour and size in the title. Just don't put size and colour as variants as they will appear twice in the Google title!

I have however always found that the way Google concatenates (puts together) title + colour + size as perfectly OK.

Concentrate on optimising the title of the products and descriptions along with on-page content.

Regards

Nigel

[Sorin_T]

Thanks Nigel,

This makes things better to understand for me. Is it a good practice to set a rule in place so that google merchant append size and colour to the product title or is it better to control that when you don't have too many products? I am wondering that maybe some products might perform better if they have the colour in front of the size or the other way around .. What do you think?

Thanks
Sorin

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Sorin

I think it's down to interpretation.

1. Their titles are identical in the feed (Dubarry Ultima) - Google appends (adds to the end) the colour (if there is one) and the size.

2. Yes, description is used to help PLA ranking by a combination of search term, title and descriptive content. That is why it is essential to have a full description. It is however only visible when a searcher hits the shopping tab.

3. The parent product does not need (and in fact can't because it is non-variation specific) to show the size and colour because Google appends (adds to the end) anyway!

4. You don't need to because the description describes the product and Google appends the colour (if there is one) and size to the end of the title, so Google knows what the product is, its colour and its size!

Making descriptions for every variant (take a product with 7 sizes and 5 colours - 35 variations!) is just not necessary as Google knows all of this information anyway.

I hope you understand better what I have written.

Kind Regards & Good Luck!

[Sorin_T]

Hi Nigel,
Sorry I really didn't want to sound rude. I do appreciate your answer - it was very helpful! I just like to hear other opinion and don't stop on the first answer I get.. we might unleash some other tips I believe..

"They only have one title and they come up multiple times because they send all the sizes to Google and are paying more than the next person for PPC." - Their title is different for each product - One title would mean the product would only show once not multiple times if all products would have the same title.

As in regards to the product description, I read in many places that this is actually used in PLA rank. 
Sorry for the thumbs up! I really should've pressed it (still new around the discussion forums so didn't know it is so important - but now I do!).

As for the parent product not to show size in the title description is a quite a missed opportunity no? What if someone is looking for a " 12mm 3 strand rope" - And assuming this is my actual parent product... Let's say my product will still show but with the title 3 Strand Rope - Colour Navy - Would this be as appealing to the searcher? My competitor his title would be the exact "12mm 3 strand rope" - Which one would you click on?

In regards to the description ... let's pretend you have 10 product variations - I have nothing else to do than actually optimizing my products - Is it a good practice to come up with a unique description for each product variation? Obviously, the description would be the exact same one for all product variation except for the fact that I would change the size and colour according to each product variation. - Is this a good practice?

Maybe this would make you understand better my confusion. I'm not saying you're wrong but not right either... Maybe my question wasn't clear enough.

Best Regards,
Sorin

[Nigel_Carr]

I don't know what more you need to know. I work with many retailers who send in a Google feed as well as configuring them so just tell me what the issue is. The odd thumbs up wouldn't go amiss either! We do give out advice for free!

[Sorin_T]

Hi Nigel,
Thank you so much for your response. In fact, the size is in the title for each of the variations, as in regards to the multiple times display we also send every single variation to Google so that is not quite the answer I would say ... there is something else going on. 
Thanks for your time. I wish I could also get another opinion on this matter.

Regards,
Sorin

[Nigel_Carr]

If a product only has one colour then it's OK to have it in the title as it won't have a colour - child. Th description isn't used in PLA's

For the Dubarry Ultima - their title is just that: 'Dubarry Ultima'with the size being pulled in from the feed. Size is not in the title.

They only have one title and they come up multiple times because they send all the sizes to Google and are paying more than the next person for PPC.

The description is also being pulled in but it doesn't contain colour or size. The description is common to all sizes and colours. There is no way anyone could manage a different description for each size anyway - it's time-consuming enough coming up with one!

Regards

Nigel

[Sorin_T]

Hi Nigel,

Your answer is really close to what I was thinking to be honest except for the parent product. I take it that the parent product title should not include the colour of the product? Even if that product is one colour? (ok .. I am here talking about another set of products rather than ropes I guess). But how about the description? The parent description should not include the size (should include colour if is only 1 option right?) but the child products should they have the exact same description as the parent one or on these ones I should include the actual unique attributes?

Let's take an example:

I noticed you are in UK

If you try and search for Dubarry Ultima Extra Fit Sailing Boots

You will see one specific shop who come up and take more than 70% of the listings with a really short title such as : Dubarry Ultima EU 48 - Dubarry Ultima EU 42 and so on. 
So every single variation of their product does include the product size... How do they manage to come up so many times? Do they have a different description for each size? Are they using the same description?

Thanks,

Sorin

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Sorin

When you send your products to Google Merchant Centre you will have a parent product and children which will be listed as size and colour. The XML feed should have those all listed out separately, so that if someone is looking for a Black Widget size 9 then that will be an individual listing.

The parent title will be appended with the colour and size in search results.

So the answer is: do not include colour or size in the parent title as this will be appended to from the correct attribute data in your merchant feed.

Generally too, on your website, the title of the product, where products have variants or attributes is not to list them in the product title. It's fine to add them to the description, so in organics, they may be visible, but not the title.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Nigel

[Sorin_T]

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your answer. I don't quite get the "rec-con" tag ... Could you please be more explicit?

Sorin

[KevnJr]

Consider being as descriptive as possible for the primary "Rope" page. On the "Other Options" for rope, use the rec-con tag back to the primary and describe why this rope is unique to the primary.

Hope this helps.

KJr