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Google Shopping lets people research and compare products from ecommerce websites across the internet. For years, getting your products there meant paying for ads through Google Merchant Center.
Since 2020, Google has also offered free product listings through Merchant Center. Paid ads still get the most prominent placements, but any ecommerce store can now show its products in the free listings on the Shopping tab and in other places across Google, including Search and Images. That is a real opportunity for online retailers, and it costs nothing to take part.
Getting started with free listings takes three steps
Setting up free listings is simple. If you are new to Google Shopping or Google Merchant Center, follow the steps below. Google has been rolling out a redesigned Merchant Center, so menu names and screens may look different from what we describe, but the steps are the same:
- Create a Merchant Center Account – Visit the Google Merchant Center homepage. During sign-up you will enter your basic business information, choose where your customers check out and, if you like, connect any third-party platforms. You will also need to verify and claim your website.
- Create or Upload a Product Feed – In order to sync your product data to Google Merchant Center, you will need to create a product feed. Google has released eligibility requirements and optional requirements regarding product information that we will discuss below. Depending on your CMS (Content Management System), there may be one or more extensions/plugins/apps for you to conveniently sync your feeds.
- Opt In To Free Listings – When setting up your account, make sure you opt in to free listings across Google. If you already have a Merchant Center account for your ads, check your account settings to confirm you have opted in.
Your product feed must include the data Google requires
You want shoppers to see the most relevant product details, and Google wants the same for its users. Your product feed must be submitted in the correct format so Google can create your listings.
The feed is Google’s main source for your product details. As you gather the information, review Google’s product data requirements. The main attributes are listed below, but requirements can change, so check Google’s current Merchant Center documentation for your product types and country:
| Product ID | All products must have a unique product identifier. |
| Product Title | Each product will have a product title attribute that should accurately describe the main offering. |
| Description | The description attribute must be included in the data. Descriptions should be relevant to the product and not include store information or promotional language. |
| Link | Every listing will have a verified product landing page via http or https. |
| Image Link | The listing must include an image URL that links to the primary product image. |
| Availability | The listing must display whether the product is in stock, out of stock, back order, or pre order. |
| Product Price | Each product must have a price above zero (in almost all cases). The price should accurately reflect that of the landing page and checkout. |
| Brand (new products) | The product data needs to include the brand name of each product. Some exclusions may apply here. |
| Gtin | Stands for Global Trade Item Number. The gtin is required for new products with the number available by the manufacturer. |
| Condition | This field is required for used or refurbished products. |
| MPN | If no gtin is available, please submit a manufacturer part number. |
| Adult | The adult field is required for adult-related Google Shopping products. |
| Age Group | The age group must be defined for apparel items under enhanced free listings. |
| Color | The color must be identified for apparel items under enhanced free listings. |
| Gender | The gender must be specified for apparel items under enhanced free listings. |
| Material | The material attribute must be defined to distinguish variants of a certain product. |
| Size | Required for all apparel listings. |
| Item group ID | The Item Group ID is needed for product variants under enhanced free listings. |
| Shipping | The shipping costs are required for enhanced free listings. You will define them within your Merchant Center account. |
| Tax | Tax information for U.S. listings is set up in your Merchant Center account settings. |
Beyond the required attributes, you can add a long list of optional product data. The more complete your data is, the better Google can match shoppers to your products.
Once your data is ready, you can send your feed to Google in several ways:
- Google Sheets
- Scheduled Fetch
- Upload via FTP, STFP, Google Cloud Storage, etc.
- Merchant API (which replaces the older Content API for Shopping)
Choose whichever method fits your setup. If you use a platform such as Shopify, Adobe Commerce (Magento), BigCommerce or WooCommerce, there are apps and integrations that connect your store to Merchant Center and keep products, prices and stock updated automatically.
Keep optimizing your listings after launch
After your feed is uploaded, check your Merchant Center account regularly for improvements. Because these are unpaid listings that link to your product pages, those pages need to be optimized too. Use your on-page SEO knowledge to write clear product titles and descriptions, and use sharp, high-quality product images. Accurate prices, stock status and shipping details also matter, because Google can disapprove products when the feed does not match the landing page. Google also uses Merchant Center product data in its AI-powered shopping experiences, so a complete, accurate feed helps there too.
Merchant Center shows how your free listings perform
Merchant Center reports on your free listings in its performance and diagnostics sections. Diagnostics shows whether products are approved, disapproved, pending or expired, and it points out missing fields or unsupported values so you can fix them.
In addition, Merchant Center provides a report for free listings that includes impressions, clicks, and CTR%. Impressions measure the amount of times the product listing has appeared on Google. Clicks are the number of times a user clicked on your unpaid listings and visited your website or product landing page. Clicks can be generated on Google Search and Google Shopping. The click-through-rate is the ratio of the amount of times your listing appeared to the amount of times a user clicked on the listing and led to a site visit.
Free listings add reach at no cost, so use them
The best thing about free listings is that they are free. There are no fees for showing your products in unpaid Shopping results. Many competitors already use them, so a complete, accurate feed is how you keep up and, with good data, how you can get ahead. Search for your own products on the Shopping tab to see which competitors are showing up and how their listings look.
If you want your ecommerce business to stay competitive, make full use of free listings. Your product data still determines how your products perform against other unpaid listings, so keep improving it. If you want to add paid Shopping ads on top, our team can help.
“He is consistently dialed into our campaigns, takes ownership of results, and continually looks for ways to improve performance and generate more qualified leads that convert into business.”
Jamie WeberAnago of Nashville
