Your Ecommerce store is packed with fantastic products, but are they showing up on Google?
Getting accepted for free listings on Google Shopping is one thing, but ensuring your products actually appear and compete with paid shopping ads is another challenge entirely.
This guide will walk you through how to optimise Google Shopping listings effectively, making sure your product feed is ready for both free and paid placements without wasting money.
Why Focus on Google Shopping Listings?
Google Shopping is a powerful way for businesses to showcase their products. Whether you’re relying on free listings or investing in sponsored listings, optimising your Google Shopping feed is key to competing in a crowded marketplace. Here’s why:
- Free listings allow you to reach a vast audience without upfront advertising costs. Since 2024, Google Shopping has claimed an 85% share of all clicks within Google Ads or Google Shopping campaigns.
- A well-optimised feed ensures the right customers find your products, leading to an increase in conversion rate and a growth in sales.
- Sponsored shopping ads can be highly effective, but only if your product listings are fully optimised to avoid wasting money on product ads.
Following the steps below will increase your chances of appearing on Google Shopping and set up a solid foundation for paid advertising campaigns.
Step 1: Build & Optimise Your Google Shopping Feed
To get your products listed, we need to create an accurate product feed. Your feed is a spreadsheet or data file that contains all the information about your products, such as titles, descriptions, prices, and availability.
Best Practices for Google Shopping Feed Optimisation
- Include key details in the titles like brand, product type, and essential attributes (e.g., “Men’s Black Vintage Leather Jacket – XL”). Avoid stuffing titles with irrelevant keywords.
- Write concise descriptions with relevant keywords and focus on the product’s unique features. A checklist of the main benefits can make the content more digestible.
- Use high-resolution images with a plain background. Avoid an overlay or watermarks that can make it look messy and go against policy.
If you’re a stockist of products that other Ecommerce websites also sell, try to ensure your images vary and are different. Otherwise, this can cause direct comparison and other factors, such as price, would really come into play.
- Make sure the prices in your feed match those on your website. Inconsistencies can lead to disapproval. When you have a sale, ensure your ‘sale price’ is included in the data feed.
- Category Mapping for your Google Shopping product listings is essential for effective visibility. Assign the correct Google Product Category to ensure your products appear in the correct searches.
- To boost credibility, provide accurate identifiers such as Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs), or brand information. Unless your products are handmade, you should have this information on hand.
Tools to Help with Feed Optimisation
Google Merchant Centre: Upload and manage your feed, track performance, and fix issues.
Feed Management Tools: WooCommerce and Shopify have their own plugins, one of which is Product Feed Pro, which helps you link your product list to the merchant centre. Be sure to field map all the attributes correctly in the settings, as this can cause errors and prevent your products from being approved.
Source: Google Merchant Centre
Step 2: Qualify for Free Google Listings
Once your feed is ready, the next step is qualifying for free Google Shopping listings. Here’s how:
- Sign Up for Google Merchant Centre: Create a Merchant Centre account and link it to your website.
- Enable Surfaces Across Google: This feature allows your products to appear in unpaid listings across Google’s platforms, including search results, images, and shopping tabs.
- Verify & Claim Your Website: Prove ownership of your website to Google by following the steps to getting a verification tag or using Google Analytics.
- Google Policy Compliance: Your website and products must meet Google’s guidelines, such as having a secure (HTTPS) site, a clear return policy, and consistent shipping information.
Step 3: SEO Enriched Listings
Optimising your feed is one thing, but making your listings search-friendly and persuading customers to buy is another. Here’s how to take your optimisation efforts for Google Shopping further with Ecommerce SEO:
Key Areas to Focus On
Focus on including high-intent keywords in titles and descriptions to match user searches. For example, if your products cater to pregnancy, terms like “maternity” are essential.
Highlight local availability with Local Inventory Ads to attract nearby shoppers and encourage customer reviews on your website and Google, as positive feedback can boost click-through rates.
Help Google understand your content better by using schema markup on each product page. Include detailed FAQs, size guides, and all product attributes to answer potential customers’ questions.
Seasonal Opportunities
Editing your products to align with the season can greatly benefit visibility and sales. Ensure your feed is updated with seasonal keywords, product titles, and imagery to align with shopper intent during key periods (e.g., “Winter Sale – Women’s Raincoats”, “Christmas”, or “Summer Swimwear Clearout”).
Regularly completing a product audit and refreshing your product feed to align with seasonal trends can give you more marketing attributes to work with.
Step 4: Prepare for Paid Google Shopping Ads
Even if you’re focused on free listings, optimising your product feed sets the stage for successful paid campaigns. A paid Google Ad can give you a competitive edge, especially for high-value products or during busy shopping seasons.
Getting Ready for Paid Shopping Ads
- Set a Budget: Make a decision on how much budget you want to allocate based on product margins. This should be re-assessed every 30 days, but Google is a patient game. You should leave your product ads to run and test between 30 and 60 days unless you see dramatic drops and inconsistencies.
- Segment Your Products: Group similar products together for more targeted bidding strategies. Use the backend of your Ecommerce website to connect products for cross-selling and recommendations for up-selling purposes.
- Use Smart Shopping Campaigns: Let Google’s AI handle bids and placements for maximum ROI.
- Track Performance: Monitor metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions to identify what’s working and adjust your product data accordingly. You can A/B test different titles and descriptions against each other and see the click-through rate (CTR) after 30 days.
Source: Google Merchant Centre
Step 5: Troubleshooting Common Errors
If some of your products aren’t showing up, don’t panic; check your product data for errors. Common issues include disapproved products, low visibility in search queries, and policy violations affecting your product listings.
Check your Merchant Centre account for errors like missing GTINs or mismatched prices and fix them promptly.
Revisit your feed’s keyword optimisation and ensure your images and descriptions are compelling. Confirm that your site meets all of Google’s bare minimum requirements. An important one is to check your shipping and return policies.
Regularly syncing your website pricing with feed updates prevents discrepancies and streamlines troubleshooting.
Step 6: Monitor and Improve Performance
Success with Google Shopping isn’t a one-and-done deal. Regularly review and optimise your product feed to stay competitive in Google Shopping.
Tips for Ongoing Optimisation
One of the best ways to track performance is using Google Analytics, which helps you understand user behaviour and how customers interact with your listings.
A/B test and experiment with different titles, descriptions, and images to determine which combinations resonate best with your audience.
Staying updated with Google’s policy changes and new features is essential to maintain compliance and visibility in search results.
Free Tools You Can Use
Google Trends helps you identify trending keywords to include in your feed.
At the same time, Canva allows you to create professional-looking product images with consistent backgrounds that are re-sized to Google’s requirements.
Keyword Planner is also great for researching high-performing search terms to refine your product descriptions and boost visibility.
Bonus: Don't Ignore Site Speed!
We all know that user experience is one of the most important factors when it comes to SEO, but it also has a significant impact on Google Ads.
Having a strong performance in tools like PageSpeed Insights is crucial to improving your ad rank.
Poor site speed and accessibility can have a dramatic impact on the perceived quality of your ads through Google’s eyes.
It will raise your CPCs, decrease conversion rates and limit your overall visibility.
If you can get your scores on PageSpeed Insights to 100, then great!
A good benchmark to aim for though is a score above 90.
This is one of the most overlooked aspects we see for Google Shopping ads and often causes advertisers to make poor decisions in their ad account, when the answer is on the website.
Case Study: Mermaids Swimwear
Mermaids Swimwear is a prime example of how optimised Google Shopping listings can drive exceptional results. Targeting women seeking premium summer clothing, they focus on high-quality bikinis, beachwear, dresses, and accessories.
Despite competing with lower-cost brands, they’ve built a loyal customer base through trust, detailed listings, and optimising product data.
Each product includes:
- Keyword-focused titles & descriptions
- Clear colours
- Product condition
- Design details
- Material
- Care instructions
- Size guide
- Shipping & returns
- Professional photos with products styled on influencers
- An accurately assigned Google product category.
Their strategy also includes leveraging seasonal promotions during slower months, like winter, ensuring consistent visibility and sales. This approach has delivered a return of over 5x during their off-peak season, proving the power of a well-optimised feed.
Source: Mermaids Swimwear
Mastering Google Shopping Listings
Whether for free or sponsored ads, optimising Google Shopping listings can create huge momentum for your Ecommerce store. By following our guide, you’ll not only increase your chances of getting listed but also ensure your products can thrive in the industry.
Remember, the key to success is consistency. Regularly update your product feed, monitor performance, and adapt to changes in the market. With a solid strategy in place, you’ll be working with Google—not against it—to drive more traffic and sales through Google Shopping optimisation.
Need a hand with your Google Shopping listings? Design Box can help you make the most out of your strategy, whether you’re starting fresh or looking to improve. Get in touch today and see how we can elevate your Ecommerce success.
