Just a few months ago, Google decided to make all businesses in the United States free, and shortly after this offer was expanded from the Shopping tab to the main section of search results. But Google knows that SMEs around the world need a boost after the impact that Covid-19 has had on the global economy, so the internet giant announced that from mid-October Google Shopping will be free worldwide.
Google Shopping will be free globally
In its , Google assured that “we bring the free listings to the Shopping tab in countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Just as we don’t charge sites for being part of the Google search index, participating retailers’ listings will be able to appear in these results at no cost to them. Paid listings will continue to appear in ad slots and will work in the same way as current Shopping ads.
According to Google, retailers who have published their listings on Google Shopping have managed to get twice as many views as well as 50% more visits to their websites, with SMEs seeing the biggest increases since free Google Shopping listings were launched.
So you can join Google Shopping at no cost
If you want your product catalog to appear in the Google Shopping tab, the first thing you have to do is upload your product feed to the account and make sure you participate in Google’s Surfaces program.
This will allow your products to show up in relevant search results on Search, in the Google Shopping tab and also in Google Images.
And what if you already use Merchant Center? In this case you will not have to do anything to take advantage of this change, since according to Google the listings will appear automatically at no cost, in addition to in Europe you will be able to choose any comparison shopping service (CSS) to work with free listings.
Local service announcements also expand internationally
Google also announced the launch of the in ten European countries: Spain, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and .
With local service announcements”people are helped to discover and connect with trusted local professionals, such as plumbers, house cleaners and electricians, backed by the Google Guarantee badge.” thus, potential customers will be able to have at hand the information of the service provider, the ratings of previous customers and contact the providers easily and directly.
Also professionals do not need a website to use these ads, and they will only pay when a customer communicates, while there is no charge for people who click on the ad.
Yet another effort by Google to help SMEs in Europe is , a tool that provides personalized plans that include guidance on the right tools for each business. This service was launched this month in Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, in addition to which Google also extended that it helps local retailers to generate customer traffic and improve your shopping experience.
This offer comes amid growing competition between Amazon and Google, and equalizing the condition that those merchants who want to ensure prominent visibility in search results will continue to pay for ads as the number of products eligible to be displayed grows.
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