According to theinternetfaqs, Google Shopping is a search engine from Google for product searches. Shop owners can place ads so that their products can be found more easily. Google offers the user search and comparison functions through the Google Shopping ads. The ads are displayed above the organic search and contain links to the product pages of the shops. With the so-called Product Listing Ads (PLA), Google Shopping is an important part of Google Ads campaigns.
How does Google Shopping work?
In order to be able to use Google Shopping as a shop operator, you need a Google Ads account and a Merchant Center account, which is connected to the Ads account. The Google Ads account is used to place the ads. The Google Shopping ads were free for sellers until 2013 and are now subject to a charge with billing on a CPC basis. However, during the current Corona crisis, Google Shopping is again offering free ads. The service has always been free for buyers.
Google Shopping is now available in many countries and is financed by paying sellers for clicks on their products. The advertisements contain a product image, a description of the product and a destination address of the shop. In order for Google to be able to show the user the most suitable products for his search query, it needs precise information about each product. Google pulls this information from the so-called data feed provided by the retailer.
The data feed
The data feed is stored in the Google Merchant Center. It contains product properties that the seller makes available to Google and with which Google decides on the relevance of the products for a specific search query. When creating the data feed, the respective country guidelines of Google must be complied with.
The data feed is a file with a list of all products in the shop and the associated attributes. The attributes stored in the data feed should always be up-to-date, precise and complete as well as relevant for the target group. Examples of product attributes are a title, a description, the condition of the product, the availability or the price. A regular update of the data feed makes sense and is particularly important with regard to attributes such as availability and price. The quality of the data feed stored in the Merchant Center is crucial for the success of the Google Shopping campaign.
What to pay attention to?
A meaningful title that precisely describes the product is particularly important. The description of the properties should always correspond exactly to the article. It is important to note what information the target group is actually looking for. Properties that can be relevant for the user in the context of the article description are, for example, the size of the product, the material, the color and shape, the design or the functions.
A clean data feed is the be-all and end-all. The mandatory information should always be filled in, format errors should always be corrected and compliance with the guidelines also leads to a clean data feed. By specifying the attributes, Google receives even more detailed information about the individual products. This not only improves the user experience, but ultimately also increases sales. The exact classification of the articles according to product categories also helps Google to better assign the products.
Google evaluates the content of the hits found for a search query and checks to what extent they correspond to the user intent, i.e. the motivation of the searcher. The better the information on the website or the product matches the suspected user intent, the better it will be rated by Google.
Google Shopping and SEO / SEA
Google Shopping usually falls under the SEA category and has no direct impact on organic search results. But as with all SEA measures, an indirect SEO effect is also possible here. If many product listing ads are placed, the brand becomes more and more well-known and more hits can be posted via “direct type-ins”, for example. That in turn makes the brand more interesting and relevant for Google. New online shops in particular can quickly gain awareness through Google Shopping ads.
