What is Google Shopping and how can I list my products?

If you list your products on certain platforms that are partners with Google such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce, your task is very easy!

You can connect your Google account with that platform plus manage your products on Google directly on that platform. But you need a Google Merchant Center Account whether or not you use those platforms.

In fact, if you don’t use one of those platforms, there are some steps you need to take.

Let’s go one by one.

Set Up a Google Merchant Center Account
First, you need a Google Merchant Center account. It’s simple to set up and easy to navigate; you can create it in just a few steps.

a) Sign in to your Google Merchant account with your Google Account.

b) Add your business information; your business name will appear in your Google listings. After, you enter your country and select the time zone.

c) Make sure your business is following the Merchant Center Guidelines.

Review Your Product Photos, Make Sure Your Product Imagery is Optimized
Google Shopping is a highly visual experience. The first thing shoppers see is the images of your product. Those images may be how shoppers choose which product to click and buy.

After you submit your images, Google does quality checks for images and disapproves if your images have low quality. These quality checks are done frequently and Google doesn’t hesitate to suspend your account.

Tips for high-quality images by Google:

*Use a solid white or light-colored background.
*Use clear, even lightning.
*For non-apparel, images have at least 100 x 100 pixels.
*For apparel, images have at least 250 x 250 pixels.
*The URL must start with either http. Or https and comply with RFC 3986.
*Don’t use an image that doesn’t show your product.
*Don’t use an image that includes promotional code or elements.

Ensure Google understands the data you are submitting. By following the requirements of Google you are good to go. Additionally, you can check out Google’s imagery guidelines here.

Create Your Product Data Feed In The Traditional Way

The product data feed includes information about products in your store. The information you submit using the following requirements of Google will allow you to create successful ads and gather organic traffic to your website.

You can add your products individually, or you can upload them multiple times by creating a spreadsheet. Moreover, remember that there are requirements for Google while uploading products on Google Shopping.

Required attributes of Google:

ID: It’s the product’s unique identifier, the unique value of the product. You should keep the ID the same when updating your data feed.

Title: This is your product’s name. You need to accurately describe your product in short and match the title from the landing page.

Description: This is the product description part. Describe your products’ attributes and features in a maximum of 5000 characters. Don’t include promotional texts while describing your product.

Link: This is the link to your product landing page. Use the verified domain name.

Image Link: This is the URL of your product’s main image. Ensure the URL can be crawled by Google.

Availability: This is where you include the availability information of the product. Include information on in-stock, preorder, or out-of-stock for each product. Keep it up-to-date.

Price: This is where you include the product price. Add the product price information that matches the landing page.

Shipping Costs: Shipping information is where customers can see it in Google Shopping without heading to the landing page. This is required for all products in all countries of sale. You will include shipping costs, shipping speeds, and the location where products will be shipped.

You can check the entire list of required and optional product data so that you will make sure you have what you need.