Should You Be Worrying About Google’s Promo Code Testing

Some time ago the affiliate marketing community was quite astonished to learn that Google rolled out some new features to power discounts in its SERPs and Chrome. By introducing rich snippets for coupon codes via Merchant Centre and enhanced knowledge panels to display deals, Google is evidently trying to compete with affiliate publishers.

Does it actually mean that the game is over for affiliate publishers and advertisers who are heavily dependent on traffic driven from the SERPs to their websites? While this is not necessarily the case, learning more about these features and how to mitigate the negative impact can be of great importance. 

What Are Rich Snippets

A rich snippet (or rich result) is a normal Google search results with additional data displayed. Aside from containing common pieces of information: title tag, meta description, and URL, these contain extra data pulled from Structured Data found in a page’s HTML.

According to the news, we can expect to see coupon codes added to the rich snippet toolbelt. Such snippets will indicate the discount (percentage off, or dollars off) paired with a coupon code.

Should You Be Worrying?

The quick answer – no, there is no need to panic. However, there is a catch. 

While it was expected that Google may want to compete with affiliate publishers, trying to claim a portion of that traffic for itself, all these features are still in the testing phase, so it’s hard to say which of them will make it to deployment across the worldwide SERPs.

Another point is that Google, as a global player, will surely take a global approach which may result in fewer personalization and customization opportunities for affiliate publishers. While running a promotional code related business requires meticulous effort and dedication, it also may take some time for Google to reach the level that other renowned players already have.

As we continue to delve deeper into the topic, we fear that Google may provide way too much non-target traffic for advertisers, which will lead to the impossibility of processing this traffic or orders.

In addition, Google will clearly not be able to provide a variety of promotional codes, which is very important for both advertisers and affiliate publishers.

What You Can Do as Admitad Publisher?

Working with Admitad brings a number of perks that Google is unable to provide.

Admitad has committed years of meticulous work for developing strategic partnerships with a number of advertisers. 

Any advertiser within this flexible network can easily adjust their tools according to their campaign requirements, while affiliate publishers enjoy individual approach and a great support of our team. 

Plus, any advertiser working with an affiliate network directly will always be having more opportunities to personalize and customize promotional codes in order to more accurately achieve their goals.

Furthermore, Admitad enables publishers to require two different types of promo codes that Google doesn’t support at the moment:

Personal Promo Codes

These promo codes can require any publisher within the Admitad network simply by creating a request. They only need to choose an advertiser to send their request to.

Unique Promo Codes

These usually come as a complimentary from the network and have a great value. 

Admitad is committed to bringing the best service, so affiliate publishers can expect to find promo codes from a vast variety of advertisers that Google won’t be able to provide. 

To avoid suspicious traffic and losing control over it, Admitad provides a number of tools that can deal with this issue. Moreover, these tools ensure great opportunities for customizations and fine-tuning in various GEOs.