Want to Sell on Google? Now You Can for Free!

As the future of many brick-and-mortar retailers hangs in the balance while COVID-19 continues, including eCommerce in your strategy is no longer a desirable feature – it’s a necessity. Having an eCommerce site allows you to reconnect with loyal customers, as well as engage with new ones. Being found amongst the eCommerce noises online is difficult, however.

Google has a retro answer to this particular challenge; it’s going back to making it free to sell on Google Shopping.

Are you ready for it?

Google has recognised that the threat retail stores were already facing has intensified much more than we could have predicted, so they have changed this vital aspect to help struggling business owners as much as possible.

Consumers are increasingly turning to the online arena to find not only essential items, but birthday presents, toys, books, stationery for working from home, furniture, craft kits, and so much more. Placing your business online and in front of the eyes of those who want your items is a great opportunity for businesses small and large; it’s one many enterprises’ cannot ignore, but it has been an extra expense – until now.

Bill Ready, President of Commerce at Google, says: “For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs.”

Those who already use the Merchant Center and Shopping Ads, you don’t need to do anything to take advantage of this change. Google is also kicking off a brand new partnership with PayPal to allow retailers and merchants to link their accounts.

The most exciting part of this news, however, is undoubtedly the fact that Google is making this change permanent.

Why is this so important?

Before 2012 when Google switched to only paid products, selling in Google allowed a vast number of retailers and consumers to connect quickly and easily. However, the free listings in the past suffered from a quality issue – the listings were tricky to manage, with many taking customers to products which were out of stock, or different products altogether. The shift to paid ads enabled Google to check and control the quality of products searchers were finding. Of course, in the digital marketing world, even eight years ago can feel like 80 in terms of the technology we now have. Google has evolved and advanced, meaning its ability to ensure products match the data on the site has grown significantly.

What’s more, Google competes with the eCommerce giant, Amazon, for search listings every day. By only featuring retailers who paid for their spot in the results, Google was limited, putting their search power at a disadvantage. Allowing every merchant a chance to appear in their Shopping listings appeals to both consumers and sellers. It adds an extra dimension to product search optimisation efforts, creating a further level of organic search. And, as we all know, hitting the top spot through organic search is gold level SEO.

Taking it one step further, again. Those wanting to beat their competition will continue to pay for their ad to appear front and centre, creating a more competitive search landscape.

How will it work?

• Ad & Free Listings Distribution: Paid ads will now appear at the top and bottom of the Google Shopping tab. The main search page is not changing. The carousel of product listing ads (PLAs) continues to consist of adverts only.
• Powered by Product Data Feeds: The free listings will be powered by the product data feeds uploaded to the Google Merchant Center. You will need to open a Merchant Center account to begin to upload a product feed, which will then power your free listing. The Merchant Center opened up to all retailers over a year ago. The goal was to enable organic product visibility in areas of search results, which includes Image search. Recently, Google has begun to show organic product listings in a section called “Popular products.”
• PayPal Integration: Google recently announced a new partnership with PayPal. What this means for merchants is those using PayPal can now link to the Google Merchant Center account. It enables Google to verify trusted merchants quicker, and to popular the search results with the seller details faster.

Now you know what’s coming, what do you need to do to prepare?

If you’ve never sold on Google shopping before, but you want to take advantage of this opportunity, then don’t worry if you aren’t too sure how to go about it. Get in touch with us today via our email at [email protected] or give us a ring on +44 (0)1242 644368 to see how our expert team can help you. Now is the time to act with this, so don’t hesitate in contacting us, we will be more than happy to talk you through everything.