Selling with Google Shopping (Google Shopping)

With the strong development trend of e-commerce, along with many physical stores having to close due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, users have also changed their shopping habits from traditional to online shopping at home. And Google, especially Google Shopping, is an opportunity for retail businesses to connect with consumers.

Every day, hundreds of millions of people use Google to search for products and services they are interested in. Therefore, the Google Shopping tab is a fertile ground for retail businesses to display their products and attract users to shop online.

Previously, the Google Shopping tab was only for retail businesses that invested budget in advertising, but starting from the end of April this year, free product listings will appear alongside paid ads in relevant search results.

Initially, this free feature for Google Shopping will be applied to retailers in the US by the end of April this year and is expected to be updated globally by the end of 2020.

Update 05/05/2020: Google has now started updating some merchant accounts that previously submitted product feeds. Products from these merchant accounts will automatically appear in unpaid results.

Lowering barriers to customer access through Google 

With the introduction of free listings for Google Shopping, eligible retailers can submit their products via Google Merchants' feed to be listed in the Google Shopping tab. Through this, retail businesses will increase their opportunities to reach shoppers without incurring costs for clicks.

So, will Google remove the Google Shopping ad feature? The answer is no. Updating your product listings for free in the Google Shopping tab helps small businesses have a place to introduce products to users when they don't have enough resources to pay for Google Ads campaigns. Additionally, for retailers already using Google Shopping ads, this will also be an additional feature for their campaigns.

How to get your product listings updated for free on Google Shopping (Google Shopping)?

For eligible retailers, the necessary step is to update their products according to Google's requirements through the Google Merchants feed. Once you have synchronized your product feed with Google Merchant Center and your products are approved, they can appear in relevant search results. 

Google is also collaborating with many existing partners such as Shopify, WooCommerce Wordpress, and BigCommerce to help online retailers quickly and easily synchronize their products and inventory.

Additionally, you also need to optimize your product listings in the Google Shopping tab and improve discoverability for searchers:

• Ensure your product and store information is clear and detailed.
• Update high-quality, sharp, and attractive images for viewers according to Google Merchant Center's specified parameters.
• Users will often skip products with a generic, vague title, so you need to write a concise, clear title (which may include information such as: product name - size - color - attributes, etc.)
• Put yourself in the user's shoes, find out what keywords your customers will use to search for your products, and use them appropriately in the product title and description.
• Optimize your Google product category (google-product-category) with at least 3 levels. For example, if you sell women's flared dresses, the corresponding Google product category would be as follows: Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Dresses.

Do you need more advice on Google Shopping (Google Shopping) or e-commerce consulting, please call us!