Hundreds of millions of people visit Google every day for their shopping needs, making the Google Shopping tab an excellent place for businesses to list their items.
The Google Shopping tab previously consisted of only paid listings. But now Google is making a significant change to its Google Shopping platform by allowing any owner of a business who sells products online to display their products. The company says it will let anyone who operates a website or manages a store on a marketplace to advertise their products for free. Google still plans to charge companies for advertised listings in the most prominent places on the page.
Google is making an extraordinary leap by providing free product listings in search results, with digital shopping becoming a lifeline right now for both retailers and customers. Google has been working for some time on these updates, but the current coronavirus pandemic is forcing it to accelerate those plans. Google Shopping’s latest free option has already come into force in the US, and the company says it’ll roll out to Google Shopping worldwide in the next few months.
What it looks like in practice
The most important thing to remember is that only the Google Shopping tab can show the free listings. Only paid shopping ads can be displayed on the actual search engine results page, as before.
The shopping tab will show paid advertisements at the top and bottom of the page, with organic (or free) listings in the center, similar to how paid and organic results are combined on the main search results page.
Adding free listings to the shopping tab increases the visibility of your organic product listings through Google search. Ecommerce sites (including your hearing practice) are now entitled to rank in both mobile and desktop results in one of 20 card-like listings on the Shopping results page.
How can this be used to improve your search presence?
Your hearing practice may now apply your hearing accessories to be featured in the Google Shopping tab with the introduction of free listings. From there, certain items can now be found by shoppers to purchase them without having to pay for clicks, as you would have to for a traditional Google shopping ad.
All you need to do to get started is build a Merchant Center account and upload your product feed, as well as some other logistical information such as your shipping policy and tax.
Why it will benefit your hearing practice
Equal playing field: This is a considerable boost for merchants and businesses as Google has opened its Google Shopping tab for a fair and equitable playground for all businesses, big or small. While this does not replace Shopping ads, the introduction of free listings in the Google Shopping tab provides access to a popular online shopping destination for small businesses, at a time when they may not have the resources to run and scale their own Google Ads campaigns effectively.
Opportunity for free exposure: Do you sell hearing aid batteries? Earplugs? Wipes? Why not establish an online shop and get some free publicity in the Google Shopping tab?
Nick Fitzgerald is the President and Owner of AuDSEO. He also serves as the Chief Marketing Officer at Hearing Health & Technology Matters. With 13 years of digital marketing experience, Nick is a highly data-driven marketer, with expertise in search engine optimization, digital analytics and forensics, social media, digital advertising, and web development. He has been involved in the construction and optimization of nearly 1,000 web presences, including some of the largest Fortune 500 companies.
