Google Product Search Feed Optimization
Google Products optimization can also be called Google Shopping search optimization, and it is a process to help products that are listed in the Google Merchant Center get higher placement in the Google Shopping results.
What is Google Product Search?
Google first created “Froogle” to help shoppers find products based on price. Since then the Product Search has been renamed to Google Shopping and revamped so that searchers can quickly and easily find and sort products on the web. There are several advantages for sellers who show their products in Product Search:
- Google Shopping results show on the first page of Google search, usually close to the top of the page. In addition, Google has added the shopping results on the left navigation bar. More visibility means more clicks. Millions of people search for products on Google each day, so listing your products on Google Shopping results will give you more visibility.
- Unlike other shopping directories, a listing on Google Shopping is free.
- The Google merchant center allows the merchant total control over information about products. Merchants have the ability to maintain fresh, relevant information on the products that shoppers are searching for.
- If the merchant also runs Google Adwords, the Google Shopping products will be attached to the Adwords campaign (+ Show Product from….)
- If the merchant is a part of the Google Affiliate Network, the products may show up on the right column of the Sponsored Links section
Getting Started
The first thing necessary is an account with the Google Merchant Center. Then it is important to and make sure that the feed from the merchant’s shopping cart is correctly and automatically updating the merchant center. Feeds that are updated more often are deemed to be fresher (even if the products have not changed since the last update) and are thus ranked a bit higher in the listings.
In many cases the merchant’s cart must be modified to incorporate additional product description fields, particularly in the case of electronics products. It is important to fill in all the product attribute fields possible, and experiment with the content of each field to see what produces the best ranking results.
Optimizing the Products
The plan for optimizing Google Product listings is unique to each industry because different categories of products have different attributes.
Google recommends that all products include the following attributes: Title, Description, URL, Address, Contact information, Display preferences, Tax and Shipping, Condition, and ID. The title and description fields can be optimized to include search phrases.
In addition, it is helpful to connect the Google Adwords account with the Merchant Center (if the merchant has an adwords account), and it is also helpful to set up Google Checkout (a convenient way for consumers to pay using a userid and password) if this can be incorporated into the merchant’s cart as well.
There are several fields that can also help in product optimization, including all the fields that can be sorted, such as brand, price, product type, ISBN or MPN, and UPC. The images for the products can also be optimized. In some cases the merchant may need to define custom attributes to describe products.
The next step in product optimization is to encourage customers to rate products at the following sites: Resellerratings.com, Pricegrabber.com, Rateitall.com, Bizrate.com, Reviewcenter.com, Shopping.com, Epinions.com.
Finally, UTM tags can be added to each product URL so that they can be tracked in Analytics. With a combination of analysis of the Google Merchant Center and Google Analytics, it is possible to test and experiment with additional attributes to improve product listing rankings.
For more information about our Google Product Data Feed optimization, Give us a call today!
