Halloween's Hottest Costume Trends Are Frozen

Are you an Elsa, Olaf or Anna? Judging by the top trending searches for Halloween costumes on Google, you’re going to see a lot of each on the streets this October 31. The characters from Disney’s animated blockbuster make up three of the top five trending costumes this year.

While last year’s list featured popular choices from TV (Breaking Bad) and the viral video “What Does The Fox Say,” movie-themed costumes are dominating this year. Maleficent and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes round out the top five. Costumes from Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America and The Avengers take places 6 through 8, while video-game Assassin's Creed and pet costume were the only non-movie themed costumes trend to make the Top 10.

With more than half of their traffic coming from Google, online retailer BuyCostumes.com anticipated the surge in interest around these top costumes and tailored their Google Search advertising to ensure that they’re connecting with consumers as they’re looking for this season’s popular costumes.

“We watch the trends with a keen eye, especially around this time of year,” said Jennifer Dominiquini, chief marketing officer for BuySeasons, Inc., parent company to BuyCostumes.com. “It is important to us to leverage the trends and ensure those searching for them are finding our brand in their search.”

Trick or Doggy Treat?

It’s no surprise that canine companions frequently join the family as they take to the streets, going door to door, but more and more people are looking to incorporate their dogs into the Halloween spirit. Searches for dog costumes are trending nearly 15% higher than last year, and one pet even costume managed to crack the Top Ten trending costumes. At number 9 on this is ‘spider dog’, no doubt inspired by the viral video sensation ‘Mutant Giant Spider Dog’, which has generated more than 99 million views on YouTube since the beginning of September. BuyCostumes.com has been seeing a surge in interest around pet costumes this season, with people also looking for ways to incorpoate their animal friends into themed costumes for the whole family.

Halloween, The DIY Way

Halloween is one of those holidays filled with the do-it-yourself spirit, particularly if the DIY costume and general Halloween trends on Google Search are any indication:

Top 10 Most Searched DIY Costumes	Top 10 Halloween DIY Searches
DIY Elsa costume DIY mermaid costume DIY couples costumes DIY Minion costume DIY Minnie Mouse costume DIY Disney costumes DIY Ninja Turtle costume DIY superhero costume DIY Olaf costume DIY Wonder Woman costume	how to make Halloween props how to make Halloween invitations how to make Halloween wreaths how to draw Halloween how to decorate for Halloween how to draw scary Halloween stuff how to throw a Halloween party how to make a Halloween mask how to do Halloween makeup how to plan a Halloween party

But nowhere is the the DIY Halloween spirit more alive than on YouTube. Last year, nearly one out of three Halloween costume searches on YouTube were for DIY costumes. Searches for DIY costumes on YouTube  grew more than 200% in 2013 compared to the previous year.

One DIY area on YouTube that sees a significant seasonal spike every year for Halloween is in makeup. Searches for makeup on YouTube hits a high each October as millions of people search for Halloween inspiration and tips. 

Whether you’re looking to show off your inner Elsa, are searching for the best outfit for Fido, or are looking to wow your friends with your DIY prowess, there are tricks and treats available for everyone this Halloween.

Posted by Danielle Bowers, Data & Trends Manager

2014 Holiday Shopper Research: Shopping Never Sleeps

This holiday shopping season will be our most connected ever, with devices at our fingertips helping us hunt for deals in short moments—whether it’s on a laptop at work or on a smartphone right before bed. In fact, one third of all shopping searches on Google happen between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m..¹ That’s because shopping doesn’t stop once the mall closes. Today’s shopper spends more time than ever researching purchases online at all hours of the day; we’ve gone from midnight snacking to midnight shopping.

To understand how digital trends will impact this year’s shopping season, we conducted our annual Holiday Shopper Intentions research with Ipsos MediaCT, surveying consumers on their shopping behavior. We found that people are shopping earlier, using online video to help with research, and turning to smartphones as personal shopping assistants. 

Black Friday is becoming a month-long event

People are starting their research early and retailers are stretching Black Friday promotions across November, changing the focus from just one day to a month-long event. More than half of consumers surveyed said they’ll start their research before Thanksgiving, with 26% of shoppers having started before Halloween.² 

Shoppers are also spending more time consulting more sources before making a decision. In 2010, shoppers used five sources of information on average before purchasing, but that has more than doubled with shoppers consulting at least 12 sources last year.³ This means that October through November has become a crucial period for retailers to reach shoppers online, being present with offers, information, how-tos and content.

Online shopping is the new window shopping

Shoppers are going online for inspiration at all points of their day, not just to research specific products but to see what their friends and favorite influencers are wearing. Sites like YouTube and Pinterest have become the new window displays, and a new generation of fashion influencers like Bethany Mota are influencing shopping decisions. 

Shopping-related content on YouTube, from unboxing videos to product reviews, is becoming an important part of the holiday research process and is trending up year over year. Haul videos—or the YouTube equivalent of telling your best friend about your latest shopping purchases—spike during key shopping events and hit their peak during Black Friday weekend. Videos with "haul" in the title have have been watched more than 1.1B times on YouTube, and views are up 1.7x this year compared to last year.⁴

And shoppers aren’t just using YouTube for research ahead of time, they’re also looking up videos while they’re in stores to help them make decisions. One in four shoppers say they've used YouTube to search for a video related to a product they're considering while in a store.⁵ 

Your phone: The ultimate shopping assistant

One of the biggest enablers for shopping throughout the day is our mobile devices. Our research found that 75% of smartphone shoppers plan to use their phones in-store this holiday season.⁶ It used to be that shoppers came to the store with little knowledge, and the sales associate educated them on products. Now shoppers are coming into stores teeming with information, and are turning to their phones as personal shopping assistants. One in three shoppers use their smartphones to find info instead of asking store employees.⁷ 

We’ve found that when retailers understand mobile behavior in stores, they can meet shoppers online with helpful information. In fact, 46% of shoppers who use their phone in a store still end up making a purchase, an 11 point increase from 2011.⁸ Consumers are coming into stores more purposeful and informed than before, and savvy retailers are turning this into an opportunity. 

Want to know more about the 2014 holiday shopper? Check out more research and case studies at Think with Google.

Posted by Beth Thomas, Industry Development Manager, Google

1. Google Shopping search data, July - September 2014

2. Google / Ipsos MediaCT 2014 Holiday Shopping Intentions Study, September 2014

3. Google and Inmar, 2013

4. Google data, January 2013 - September 2014, Indexed views on YouTube

5. Google Consumer Survey, September 2014

6. Google / Ipsos MediaCT 2014 Holiday Shopping Intentions Study, September 2014

7. Google Mobile In-Stores study May 2013

8. Google Nielsen, November 2013

Top holiday tips for retailers

With October kicking off this week, the holiday shopping season is just around the corner. According to our recent research, 29% of shoppers plan to start their holiday shopping before Halloween. With this in mind, we’ve put together a Holiday Shopping Checklist filled with the season’s best practices for retailers to maximize performance across both Search and Shopping campaigns. In addition to our checklist, here are the top holiday trends from last year and tips from the Google Shopping team on how to make this Q4 a good one.

Address increased shopping demand today. Last holiday season, traffic sent to merchants from Google Shopping doubled year-on-year.¹ This momentum has continued and in July we saw traffic sent to merchants surpass last year’s peak holiday traffic from Google Shopping.² Not only has consumer interest increased, but it is also beginning earlier. Our research shows last year consumer interest in Black Friday was up 27% from 2012 and related searches started about a week earlier than the prior year. Get the most out of this high volume shopping period by establishing your marketing goals early and using our checklist to help achieve them.

Connect with mobile shoppers. The best way to connect with your customers is to be there whenever and wherever they are looking for your products, and increasingly this is on mobile. Mobile devices drove 35% of all traffic to retail sites in the US last holiday season, and this is expected to increase to 43% by November 2014.³ Globally, Google Shopping sent over 3X more traffic to merchants on smartphones in holiday 2013 year-on-year.¹ Make sure you plan for a significant proportion of your shoppers to be mobile this season.

Provide fresh and accurate information to customers. Pricing and shipping are two of the most important factors for shoppers when making a purchase online.⁴ Update and resubmit product feeds regularly to  ensure that customers see consistent pricing and inventory information across your Product Listing Ads and website. Improve the customer experience by using automatic item updates to update your items on Google Shopping based on the data we find on your website. If you offer free shipping, include messaging in your text ads or use the new Merchant Center shipping configuration tool to reflect this in your Product Listing Ads.

New shipping configuration tool in Merchant Center

Differentiate from the competition. With strong competition during the holidays, promotions are a key driver in determining consumer purchasing decisions. This was evident last year, as 92% of all shoppers took advantage of some type of promotion.⁵ Consider how you can differentiate your messaging by highlighting a strong promotional offer or unique value proposition. Make your Product Listing Ads stand out by using merchant promotions and provide an additional stamp of credibility for your business by becoming a Google Trusted Store. Provide additional value for shoppers by displaying product ratings on your PLAs. According to Diana Ruka, Senior Director of eCommerce at COACH, product ratings have provided “added value beyond price points or descriptions - they convey a message without need for words- they provide distinction.”

Example of merchant promotions, product ratings and the Google Trusted Stores badge displayed on Product Listing Ads

For more holiday tips and best practices, check out our Holiday Shopping Checklist or join us for our Learn With Google Hangout on Air on October 30 at 10:00am PST for more holiday optimization tips.

Posted by Shelby Coyne, Product Marketing Manager, Google Shopping

1 Google Internal Data Q4 ‘12 to Q4 ‘13.
2 Google Internal Data Q4 ‘13 to Q2 ‘14.
3 IBM Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report, June 2014.
(Note: IBM’s definition of ‘mobile devices’ includes smartphones and tablets.)
4 Shop.org, Holiday Planning Guide, February 2014.
5 Baynote Holiday Shopper Survey, January 2014.

Holiday Shopping Made Easy with Google Wallet

Fall is here, and the holiday season is right around the corner. While this time of year comes with lots of celebrations, it can also come with a never-ending holiday shopping list. Here's how Google Wallet can help you save time and speed through your shopping list safely this holiday season -- and all year-round.

When you're shopping in stores
Google Wallet works with all credit and debit cards. Use your Android phone (running Kit Kat or higher) to make Tap & Pay payments on any mobile carrier, at hundreds of thousands of stores in the U.S. including Toys”R”Us, Babies”R”Us, Walgreens, Petco and many more. Just look for this logo:

If you don't have an Android phone, you can swipe a Google Wallet Card everywhere Debit MasterCard® is accepted in the U.S. And because we don't want you to miss a good holiday deal, Google Wallet lets you store coupons, loyalty and gift cards right on your phone.

When you're buying online
Speed through online and mobile checkout wherever you see the “Buy with Google” button, at merchants like Priceline, Jack Threads, NewEgg and many more. Simply press the "Buy with Google" button to check out in as few as two clicks.

When you need to send money
With Google Wallet, you can send money to anyone in the U.S. with an email address. Send money from your phone with the Google Wallet app, or in Gmail from your desktop by clicking the $ sign in your attachments bar.

Keeping your money safe and you in control
Google Wallet sends you a real-time notification after each transaction. This not only helps you keep track of your spending, but also provides an additional level of security. And if your phone gets lost or stolen, you can remotely disable the Google Wallet app at wallet.google.com.

At Google, we take fraud protection seriously. Google Wallet stores your credit and debit card information on secure servers, not your phone, and encrypts your payment information with industry-standard SSL (secure socket layer) technology. When you use Google Wallet to Tap & Pay, we don't send your real card number to the merchant. Instead we send a virtual card number along with a one-time-use security code. Google Wallet is also backed by 24/7 Fraud Protection, which covers 100% of unauthorized transactions.

Google Wallet is an easy way to speed through your holiday shopping. Download Google Wallet today on the Play or App Store.

Extend the reach of your Product Listing Ads to qualified shoppers

With the growth of product queries across the web, advertisers are looking for new ways to connect their products to interested shoppers. 

By opting your Shopping Campaigns into Google’s search partners, you can now reach users as they search or browse for products on retail and commerce sites in the Google Search Network. These retailers, such as Walmart.com, are part of AdSense for Shopping, our latest product to help monetize site traffic.

Extending your Shopping Campaigns to these sites helps you reach qualified users beyond google.com and Google Shopping. Your Product Listing Ads show alongside contextually relevant results, determined by the user’s search, the product category or the product name. For example, if you sell tailgating grills on Google Shopping and a user searches tailgating grill on a retail partner's site, your Product Listing Ads may be eligible to appear.

Product Listing Ads on Walmart.com

Similar to text ads, opting your Product Listing Ads into search partners won’t affect your quality score on google.com.

AdSense for Shopping is currently limited to a small set of retail and commerce publishers. As we release the product to more publishers, we expect advertisers with Product Listing Ads opted into search partners to see increased traffic to their sites. If you’re a retailer and you’re interested in monetizing your site through AdSense for Shopping, please complete this interest form.

To learn more about showing your Product Listing Ads on search partners and evaluating your performance, please visit our AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Jesse Adkins, Product Manager, Google Search Ads

New Shopping Campaigns Upgrade Tool

This is the final stretch. At the end of August, regular Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns will retire and be replaced by Shopping campaigns. A majority of you have started upgrading to Shopping campaigns, but if you’re one of the few who haven’t yet, we’re introducing a new upgrade tool that’ll help you upgrade in a matter of clicks.

This tool creates a Shopping campaign from your regular PLA campaign, with a campaign structure and bids based on your regular PLA campaign and historical performance data.

If you haven’t started your upgrade, we encourage you to use this tool as a jumping off point for your Shopping campaigns. Be sure to check your campaign budgets, settings and bids so they’re customized to your business needs.

Note that not all campaigns are compatible with this upgrade tool. If, for example, you use AdWords labels or groupings in your product targeting or inventory filters, you must update your data feed with custom labels before you use the upgrade tool, unless you’re happy to use another attribute to subdivide your inventory in AdWords directly.

You can access the upgrade tool, and check which of your campaigns are eligible, in the Settings tab of your existing Product Listing Ads campaigns. Learn more in the help center.

We’re here to help

We want to make sure you’ve thoughtfully upgraded and are ready for the holidays. Join us for a Learn With Google Hangout on Air on August 12 at 10:00am PST to walk through the new upgrade tool. If you have any questions, reach out to the AdWords Community Forum or contact us.


Posted by Eric Tholomé, Director of Product Management, Google Shopping

Helping shoppers decide with product ratings on Google Shopping

Product reviews provide critical information to shoppers making purchase decisions. To help shoppers easily find this information when searching for products, we’re introducing product ratings on Product Listing Ads.

Shoppers in the United States will see product ratings appear in the form of stars and review counts on Product Listing Ads across google.com and google.com/shopping. This 5-star rating system represents aggregated rating and review data for the product, compiled from multiple sources including merchants, third party aggregators, editorial sites and users.

Product ratings for juicers as indicated by stars and a count of total reviews below Product Listing Ads

We believe these ratings will help differentiate products across google.com and google.com/shopping and will help merchants drive more qualified traffic through Product Listing Ads. In initial tests, product ratings also helped increase click-through-rates of Product Listing Ads.

How to enable product ratings on your Product Listing Ads

Product ratings are available to merchants targeting the United States who choose to share all of their product review content with Google, either directly or through an approved third party aggregator.

In order to give merchants time to share their review content, we’re offering a grace period from late July through October, 2014. During this grace period, we’ll allow product ratings to be shown across all Product Listing Ads where we have product review data available. After the grace period, we’ll only show ratings for products from merchants who choose to share their reviews with us.

Product ratings are one of several extensions we may show with Product Listing Ads, so please note that just because a product has reviews does not mean that we’ll always show ratings.

How to share your review content

If you would like to enable product ratings on your Product Listing Ads, please begin the process of submitting your review content to us by completing our product ratings form. During the initial launch, we expect high inquiry volumes and appreciate your patience as we work to address all inquiries.

We also plan to open up product ratings to merchants targeting countries outside of the United States in the coming months, so please stay tuned.


Posted by Mike Capsambelis, Product Manager, Google Shopping

Manage your gift cards, request money and send money for free from your debit card with the Google Wallet app

Today, we’re introducing several new features to the Google Wallet app* for Android and iOS devices that make it easier to shop in stores and get paid by friends and family. First, you can now easily manage your gift cards and redeem them in stores using the Wallet app. Never worry about forgetting your gift cards at home again. You can also request money from friends, which means you can settle the dinner bill while you're still at the table. Lastly, sending money with your debit card is now free, making it even easier to pay your friends or the babysitter using Wallet.

Store gift cards and instantly check your gift card balance

You can already store your loyalty cards and offers in Google Wallet, and now you can easily keep your gift cards in Wallet too. Add your cards to Wallet just by snapping a picture of them or typing in the card info. Then, when you want to use the gift card at the store, just show your phone to the cashier at checkout.

For certain gift cards, you can check your gift card balance in real-time and get reminders to use your card when you are near stores. Participating merchants with these features include:

If you received a gift card electronically, you can also save it to your Google Wallet directly from the e-gift by clicking “Save to Google.” This feature is currently available through merchants including Sephora, TGI Friday’s, Whole Foods and more.

Request money from friends with the Google Wallet app or Gmail

For all those times when your friends forget to pay you back for dinner, you can simply request money using the Google Wallet app (for U.S. users, 18 years and older). They will receive a notification and can instantly pay you back. If they need a reminder, you can send them a friendly nudge from within the app. You can also send your friends a message right within Gmail, and request money just like you would attach a picture.

Send money fast and for free using your debit card

You can now send money for free in Wallet by using your debit card. No more searching around for a checkbook or waiting for your funds to arrive. With Google Wallet, your money is at your fingertips.

Use Google Wallet in Spanish

If you’ve activated Spanish language settings in your Android or iOS device, the Wallet app will now display in Spanish.

Download the new version of the Google Wallet app on the Google Play Store and the App Store rolling out this week in the US, to use these new features.


Posted by Glenn Thrope, Product Manager, Google Wallet


*Android devices v. 4.0+, USA only, iOS devices v. 6.0+, USA only

Scale your Shopping campaigns with bulk uploads and AdWords Editor

With less than eight weeks left until regular Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns retire, we're excited that the majority of PLA advertisers have already started taking advantage of Shopping campaigns, and 85% of these have already fully upgraded. Advertisers who’ve upgraded like Farfetch, US Mattress, LiBoutique and ValuePetSupplies are seeing great success thanks to the retail-centric interface, item-level reporting and competitive benchmark data.

For those of you who’ve upgraded, we’re excited to introduce two new tools to make campaign management, specifically bid optimization, easier.

• Bulk Uploads: You now have the ability to download a product group report, edit your bids and destination URLs, and import your changes using bulk uploads. 
• AdWords Editor: We’ve heard your feedback, and with the latest version of AdWords Editor, you can edit your bids and destination URLs for individual product groups at scale. At this time, AdWords Editor doesn’t support the creation of Shopping campaigns or product groups, so please plan time to create your campaigns and subdivide your product groups directly in AdWords.

If you haven’t upgraded to Shopping campaigns, we strongly encourage you to start as all regular Product Listing Ad campaigns will retire at the end of August.

Many third-party agencies and platforms are upgrading advertisers to Shopping campaigns, so if you work with one, reach out and see how they can help. Here are a few resources to answer questions and get you started:

• Shopping Campaign Tutorial Videos
• How to create a campaign
• How to prep my data feed
• How to optimize my product groups
• Upgrade Hangouts on Air
• Shopping Campaigns Upgrade 101: Where and how to start (beginner)
• Shopping Campaigns Upgrade 201: What to do now (advanced)
• Help Centers
• AdWords Help Center
• Merchant Center Help Center
• AdWords Community

Posted by Eric Tholomé, Director of Product Management, Google Shopping

Win the digital shelf with our new guide to Shopping campaigns

We introduced Shopping campaigns in February to make it easier for you to manage your Product Listing Ads (PLAs). In late August, Shopping campaigns will be the default campaign type for all PLA advertisers.

To help retailers make the most of their Shopping campaigns, we’re excited to introduce a new best practices guide, “Shape Up Your Shopping Campaigns.” It addresses important questions like:

• How should you structure your campaigns: by product line, performance, or both? 
• Which feed attributes have the best chance of improving CTR?
• Are you adjusting bids quickly enough during peak seasons?

Download the “Shape Up Your Shopping Campaigns” guide now to ensure you’re making the most of your PLAs and data feeds.

 For additional help, here are a few resources:

• Tutorial Videos to help you get started
• AdWords Help Center for more detailed information on Shopping campaigns
• Learn With Google Webinar (April 15) for upgrade tips
• Learn With Google Webinar (May 22) for more advanced upgrade best practices

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Let your shoppers speed through checkout on iOS apps with Google Wallet Instant Buy

Typing shipping and billing information on mobile devices can be a difficult experience, which is one of the reasons why 97% of mobile shoppers abandon their shopping carts. We introduced Google Wallet Instant Buy to make checkout on mobile sites and Android apps easier and help shoppers speed through the purchase process - often in as few as two clicks.

Today we're bringing this same technology to iOS apps. iOS developers in the U.S. can now sign up to integrate the Instant Buy API and bring a fast and easy checkout experience across iOS, Android and web.

Merchants and developers selling physical goods and services can use Instant Buy to take advantage of the following:

• Easy integration that works with existing payment processors
• Secure payments with 24/7 fraud monitoring
• No Google fees

Merchant success with Instant Buy

Many merchants have used Instant Buy to simplify their mobile checkout and turn visitors into customers on their mobile sites and Android apps. For instance:

• RueLaLa saw a 4X increase in purchase conversion for Google Wallet users on their Android app after integrating Instant Buy. More than half of Google Wallet users came back and made repeat purchases within a matter of weeks.
• Eat24 integrated Instant Buy and saw that Google Wallet users had an 11% higher average order value than that of credit card purchases on their Android app.
• Fancy experienced a 20% conversion increase on their mobile and desktop sites, as well as Android app.

We've been working with select early partners, including Wish, B&H, Eat24, Fancy, Newegg and Sionic Mobile to integrate Instant Buy into their iOS apps. We are excited to open the Instant Buy iOS API and welcome more developers to sign up today.

Easy integration process

Developers can now review the Instant Buy iOS SDK documentation and integration process. Integrating is fast and easy, with most merchants finishing the process in less than a week.

Learn more about Google Wallet Instant Buy. For the latest Google Wallet updates, follow us on Google+.

Posted by Justin Wong, Product Manager, Google Wallet