As of April 2020, Google Shopping is now free in the USA, with other regions following suit later in the year. But what is it? Originally called “Froogle” many moons ago, Google shopping is essentially just a catalogue of products which display on the Google Search network.

Most likely you have seen these results at the top of the Google search page. With a product image and pricing, it makes it simple to compare pricing for a product search from multiple providers. As it stands in New Zealand, you pay every time someone clicks on your product listing or ad, but expect to see this change to the free model later on the year.

How does it work?

Depending on your eCommerce platform there are different solutions for getting your products listed on Google Shopping, but essentially you create a Google Merchant account and provide a feed to your product catalogue. Google then crawls your product feed and uploads the data, and once approved your products will show in the Google SERPS.

Why use Google Shopping?

Google shopping not only allows consumers to quickly compare products and pricing without leaving the Google search page, but it also gives prime real estate to display these products.

For example searching “running shoes” returns a long horizontal list of many brands of running shoes, allowing the searcher to quickly navigate different pricing and features. It allows smaller businesses to play against the big boys and makes it very easy for consumers to identify good deals or discover new products in the vertices they are researching.

At Happy Monday we live and breathe everything Google. We can help guide you through the process for getting your products listed on Google Shopping, whether you’re wanting to start now or wait until the free pricing hits our shores.

Contact us for more information.