Written by Sherlock Holmes
Coming soon is a big change on Google Shopping. It will soon be possible for sellers to post their products on the platform for free! Google Shoppingwill thus consist of ads and free listings, top placements and “normal” placements, paid results and organic results. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? It looks like Google Shopping is going to function the same as the well-known search engine.
What is Google Shopping?
Google Shopping is a part of the search engine. As a seller, this platform can be used to promote products. These products are included in a Shopping ad which is different from a text ad. A Shopping ad not only consists of text but also includes photo/photos of the product along with a price, store name, a title and a description. The user then immediately has a clear picture of the product without visiting the website. The seller does not pay anything yet, only when there is a click to the website.
Free listings
Until now, Google Shopping was only for businesses that wanted to pay for a listing, But this is about to change. Most of Google Shopping will start to consist of free listings. To take advantage of these free listings as a business, you need a Google Merchant Center. In this you include all or part of the products. Don’t forget to check the opt-in “display on Google” to become visible on Google platforms. Based on this product feed, Google makes the matches to search terms in Google Shopping. All companies selling products can thus reach a larger audience for free. Indispensable for web shops.
Ads
The ads on Google Shopping remain present. The ads appear at the top and bottom of search results in Shopping and on the main page. On the Google search engine, the Shopping ads also remain visible, in the familiar carousel. Advertisers can benefit from the free listings because their entire feed, after opt-in, will also be visible with the free listings.
Why this change
Why is Google coming up with this change now? Google had been modifying Google Shopping for quite some time. The mix of paying and non-paying results gives all businesses a chance to have a presence on this size platform. As such, Google had been working on this for quite some time. The current corona crisis has accelerated this process. Stores have had to close their doors, temporarily, which has made ecommerce-opening more important. According to Google’s official blog post, they want to help all businesses with this change.
Availability
This new feature will be available in the United States by the end of April. Throughout 2020, it will continue to be rolled out around the world. Google has not yet announced specific dates for Belgium and the Netherlands. So while it is not currently available here, this does give all businesses time to already create a Google Merchant Center account and set up a product feed.
Want more information about or help with Google Shopping, paid advertising on Google Shopping and/or a Google Merchant Center? Then we will be happy to help you. Sherlock is open as usual and we can be reached by phone and digitally.
