Google Launches a Free Version of Google Shopping
This is the kind of announcement that cannot go unnoticed! Google is launching a free version of Google Shopping in the USA and India. For the past few days, the platform has been allowing merchants to list their offers for free on the Google Shopping website as well as in the Shopping tab on Google.com.
Where will my free Google Shopping listings be visible?
Free listings on Google Shopping appear in two places:
1. In the Shopping tab on Google.com
By clicking on this tab, users filter the search results to display products exclusively. This creates a new placement that appears just below the paid search results.
2. On Shopping.Google.com
We are familiar with this URL in France because it is the URL of Google’s shopping platform, “Buy on Google”, better known to advertisers as Google Shopping Actions.
As you can see in these two screenshots, there is a real UX change with free listings now appearing just below the Ads placements.
Before / After Google Shopping on Mobile:
Before / After Google Shopping on Desktop:
New optimizations to take into account
This new opportunity to list your Google Shopping offers for free will not require an additional feed. To activate free listings, you simply need to go to your Merchant Center and activate the following feature:
After that, you also need to add a new destination in the settings of the feed integrated into Merchant Center in order to activate the “Surfaces Across Google” destination:
However, it is very important to pay particular attention to the content you provide to Google. We are talking about free listings for your offers on Google Shopping. Free listings mean SEO optimization. You therefore need to work on your content to ensure that your offers are as visible as possible in the search results.
However, be careful not to negatively impact the results of your paid Google Shopping searches. Keep in mind that the Shopping tab on Google.com represents only a few percent of the overall traffic generated by Google Shopping inventory.
Once activated, you will be able to view specific reporting on your free traffic results directly in your Merchant Center.
A feature currently available exclusively in the USA and India
As you can imagine, as soon as our team heard the news, we immediately started looking for a way to launch it for our clients as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it is not currently available to advertisers in Europe and is limited exclusively to the USA and India. We believe that other countries will follow, but Europe is a particular market for Google Shopping. With the arrival of CSS providers and the opening of the market to competition, it is uncertain whether Google is allowed to offer anything free of charge in this market.
In conclusion, we believe this is a real opportunity for advertisers to list their offers on Google Shopping for free. We know that users place real trust in Google’s free results, but as long as these results remain limited to the Shopping tab on Google.com and Shopping.Google.com, advertisers should not expect a massive increase in free traffic.
