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An unprecedented number of businesses are having to close their doors in response to the COVID19 shutdown. Others are fighting to adapt their business to the crisis, which means getting their business online. Unfortunately, it can be hard to market when you don’t have revenue coming in. Plus, there is no clear indication of when businesses will be able to open their doors again.
In response to these woes, Google has made a big announcement: it’s now free for merchants to sell on Google. This is designed to help support businesses that want to sell online but are struggling to find the budget to do so. Google Shopping ads will still appear in the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) on mobile and desktop-like they appear before.
When you consider the sheer volume of product-related searches completed on Google in a day (and many more searches being made daily thanks to everyone in-home quarantine), this means that retailers have the opportunity to connect with millions of new customers.
How can you beat free exposure!?
Naturally, with an announcement this large and significant, there are several questions and concerns that arise.
The first question is obvious: how do I take advantage of Google’s free shopping listings? It’s easy. First, you need to create a free Google Merchant Center account. Google will walk you through this process.
You’ll be asked for a data feed of your products. This could be a spreadsheet (either you can upload yourself or link with Google sheet), you can link with API or some hosted file from the website. This contains data about your individual products. Google uses this information to quickly understand every product you have in order to connect them to relevant customers and searches.
In the spreadsheet, each product is represented by a row, while the attributes of that product are organized by columns. You need to include certain attributes for Google to create a shopping listing from your product data:
These are the basic columns you need to present in order to have your data feed approved by Google Other than above mentioned you can use product type, price, color, size etc. as well.
Make sure that all your information in this spreadsheet is 100% accurate.
Current Google Ads users are likely wondering, “how can I get in on free shopping lists on Google?” If you enter your Google Merchant Center, look on the left-hand menu for “Manage Programs.” From there, you’ll find an option for “Surfaces across Google.” By selecting this, your products will begin to appear in free listings.
Almost any retailer in the US can take advantage of free product listings on Google. The only restrictions are for retailers that sell illegal, regulated, or sensitive products. Google has a list of prohibited items on their support page.
The free listings are expected to go live by the end of April. Afterward, Google will begin to expand these no-cost listings globally.
If you are already running ads on the Shopping Network, you’ll still be able to continue your paid campaigns. Your ads will appear alongside the free, organic listings now being offered. Paid product results will likely command the top, most visible spots. Then, free listings will take up the remaining real estate.
Thus, there is still value in paying for shopping ads, even with this major change. It’s also worth mentioning that these free listings are only for the shopping tab. Regular search results, campaigns on the Google Display Network, and YouTube/Gmail ads are still paid-only activities.
It is not currently availably but soon, you can view your unpaid clicks in the new performance report for surfaces across Google in Merchant Center by selecting “Performance” and then “Dashboard” in the left navigation.
Need some help in optimizing your free product listings on the Google Shopping Network? Here are a few tips to get you started.
This was mentioned earlier, but it is worth saying twice: make absolutely certain that your data feed is accurate! Even though Google is allowing for free product listings, it doesn’t mean that they are going to lower their standards! Google expects that the information in your data feed is the same that customers will find on your website.
If it’s not, Google may reject your data feed, which will further delay your chance to capitalize on this great opportunity!
Since your product titles act as the title of your shopping listing and the link that potential customers will click, it has a lot of power. You need to make your titles enticing so that they drive clicks and visits to your store.
You should optimize your title based on what people search for. If you aren’t getting good results in a month or so, consider changing some of your product titles.
Next to the title, your product images are the next biggest component for driving potential visitors to your online store. You want your images to stand out from the competition. Ideally, you want your product images to be as high-quality as possible because customers don’t want to see low-resolution shots.
One effective strategy is to look at the products already listed for the same type of products. Are they all on a similar type of background? Do any of them show the item in use? Finding a unique way to showcase the product can help you stand out from the other product images.
Similar to your product titles, your product images should also be changed if you aren’t seeing good results. Just be sure that you wait a month or two before making any alterations to your listings. This will give your data time to mature!
One thing is for certain: Google just handed businesses a major opportunity! With more consumers stuck at home shopping online than ever before, businesses that are struggling with closures can find a new life online with the help of free shopping listings!
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