Selling for Free on Google Shopping
Updated June 26, 2020
As of April 21st, 2020, Google has announced that in the Shopping Tab, people will be able to sell their own products for free. It will be ready at the end of April in the United States and globally by the end of the year. E-commerce traffic has drastically picked up due to stay-at-home orders from global pandemic. The SEO is hoping it will help “merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google.”
What Is It?
The free sales channel could be an entire game-changer for smaller businesses that couldn’t afford to use Google Shopping. Products would be able to have better visibility since there are millions who use Google Shopping on a daily basis.
Why Sell for Free on Google Shopping?
Google Shopping is a simple and free way to get your products out there with more traction and visibility to customers, increasing your chances of sales. There’s no reason not to. Similarly to Facebook and Instagram ads, Google Shopping ads account for 16% of e-commerce sales. Google Shopping is a dynamite platform because it has a higher conversion rate of 30% than just text ads. In the past, you have been able to have your products listed on Google Shopping, which you required you to have both Google Merchant Center and Google Ads accounts. To sell now under Google Shopping, you will only need a Merchant Center to account for you to provide your store and product information in a Google-friendly format to be listed. However, you don’t need to have Google Ads to be successful on Google Shopping anymore.
Getting Started
If you or your business is still paying for Google Shopping ads, it is still beneficial to do so. Even though stores will be able to list their products for free, paying for ads can help your product be listed at the top.
To sign up for free Google Shopping, you need to sign your store up in the Google Merchant Center. If you don’t already have an account, you will need to complete the onboarding process. Once signed up, you go to the “Growth” section and click on the “Manage Programs” section where you will opt into “Surfaces across Google,” which is the unpaid Google Shopping Ads. After the “Surfaces across Google” has been selected, you will need to enter your product feeds into your account so that the products will be active.
It’s super easy and straight-forward. You can be selling for free on Google Shopping in no time! Let us know if you have any questions!