Google shopping
Google Shopping is Google’s means to allow consumers to search for, view and compare products. When a user searches for an item, they are then presented with different offers for that same product. The results appear in the main search engine results page or underneath the shopping tab.
How do you list products on Google shopping?
To add your products to Google Shopping, your business will need to use the Google Merchant Center platform. You can also use your Google Ads account to influence your Google Shopping campaigns, however, Google shopping uses the words in your product titles and descriptions to add your item to the organic results – Google Shopping results appear above the organic results – whereas Adwords uses keywords the advertiser selects for their campaign. You can control budgets, bids, and to set the location, ad schedule or to optimize the results from within the Google Merchant Center.
Google Shopping is subsumed under the larger advertising medium called Google Surfaces which is immediately available to Google Shopping users. Google’s Surfaces lets your products appear in picture search results instead of the text search results.
Google Surfaces also lists products as Local Inventory Ads (LIA), which means that omnichannel or hybrid businesses can also drive traffic to their physical store. This is attractive to consumers looking to buy in store and locally. To also have your Surface ads appearing in the LIA results, you will need to undergo an additional local inventory verification process.
Why is managing a product feed important for Google shopping?
In addition to the marketing campaign, to list your products on Google Shopping, you will need to send a product data feed to the Google Merchant Center. The feed contains all the necessary attributes or structured data for the items you are listing. Product ID, EAN, price, color, stock quantity, and ISBN are just some of the required attributes for your feed.
Consumers locate and see your ads; then they click on the image or ad and “add them to their cart” – Google Shopping cart – and pay directly on Google. You set the campaigns, budget, targeting, etc., in your Merchant Center.
Because of the checkout function, Google charges a commission for processing orders that come via Google Surfaces and Gmost Google Shopping campaigns. It is essentially free to list your products once you have exported your feed via your product-to-consumer (P2C) platform’s feed management solution.
What are Google shopping trends?
Google shopping trends are determined by the search terms and search trends that potential customers are typing into Google. The search volume determines which product data is displayed. Google trends are influenced by a lot of factors but do not differ from general social commerce trends. With free product listings on your shopping ads, selling on Google viral ad campaigns means there is no reason not to start selling your products on Google.
Some of the top Google Shopping and Google Surfaces trends are fashion, video games, toys, and cosmetics. As with all other social commerce platforms, fashion is the clear leader.
What is the best way to sell on Google shopping?
One of the most important steps to creating successful Google Shopping campaigns is to have excellent product images. Make sure that the images on either your website or your product feed are top quality, consider using a P2C enriching software or management tool to ensure image quality across a large volume of SKUs.
Your images should have clear, even lighting. A solid white, gray or light-colored background is best. You should clearly display the product being sold. It shouldn’t be too big or small. Always avoid pixelation, fading, or blurriness.
Use your feed manager to ensure compliance with the required attributes (product feed specifications) for your campaigns. Google requires SKU number, title (enhance the titles with color, size, and style), description with information about the product, link to the listing page, image link, availability (in stock, out of stock), price (listed in the currency of the country where your product is sold), Google product category, and brand name. Your feed management software should have all of the required and recommended attributes that will combine to encourage Google to display your products.
Although Google shopping ads are “free,” you should consider linking up your Shopping campaigns to your Google Ad campaigns. Link your Google Merchant account to your Google Ads account to ensure your ads are always up the top of the page.
Wondering how the Google Shopping feed plays a role in your success? Learn how to master this essential component and watch your products soar to the top of search results.