What does Free Google Shopping mean for your business?
For those of you in e-commerce, and maybe even some of you who aren’t, you are likely to be familiar with Google Shopping. This is a service from Google that allows you to advertise your products from the Google search engine. It gives shoppers the ability to browse various brands and websites for their ideal item and means that your products are likely to be seen by even more people as they don’t have to visit your website to view them.
On April 21st 2020, Google released a statement announcing their plans to make selling on Google Shopping free. This initiative was prompted due to the COVID-19 crisis to help bring businesses back up due to the hit on in-person stores. This is a brilliant plan to help a variety of businesses easily advertise their products on the biggest search engine with little reprocussions. This will also help business focus on building up their online presence which is always a staple to having a modern business!
How to start your Free Google Shopping
According to Google, existing users of the platform will be automatically switched to the free service and will not need to make any changes themselves. For new users that sign up for the service, businesses will be slowly integrated into the new plans. From the information given, Google Shopping will still utilise the paid feature for those that want to maintain top visibility. However, the majority of the listings will be free listings, meaning that those who don’t want to or can’t promote their products using the paid service will still be able to be put in front of potential customers.
The aim is to make advertising online more accessible during times of hardship, particularly during the COVID-19 outbreak as many physical stores are having to remain closed to the public. In scrapping the fee associated with advertising on Google Shopping, small businesses will be much more able to sell online and would encourage businesses that already use the service to continue advertising in this challenging period.
While we don’t know for sure when these changes will be implemented for the UK, they will be welcomed by many businesses that could use more help financially.
For many businesses, the paid option will still be fundamental for competitive businesses to ensure their products are listed on the top of searches. In order to do so, you will need to set up a Google Merchant account, but can also utilise a Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) to place Google Shopping ads. By making use of the right tools, such as CSS, you can save yourself money on your ads when still using the paid option on Google.
For more information on how to save on PPC advertising spending, download our slide deck.
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