Google Shopping now free globally

In April 2020, Google opened up Google Shopping to free listings for all U.S. merchants, starting with the Google Shopping tab and then expanding to the main search results section.

Google announced on Wednesday that it is expanding Google Shopping listings for free globally.

The announcement. Google said “today we announced that we’re bringing free listings to the Shopping tab in countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Just as we don’t charge sites to be part of the Google Search index, listings for participating retailers are eligible to appear in these results at no cost to them. Paid listings will continue to appear in ad slots and will operate in the same way as Shopping ads do today.”

When? This is starting mid-October 2020, according to Google.

How do you participate? Upload your product feeds to Google Merchant Center account and then be sure to opt-into the Surfaces on Google program. This will allow your products to show in relevant search results across Google Search, the Google Shopping tab, and Google Images.

More details. You can learn a lot more about this in our original coverage from April.

Why we care. As we said in our original story, opening up this feature to all merchants will enhance Google’s offering and its appeal to both sellers and consumers. And as on Amazon, merchants that want to ensure prominent visibility in the search results, due to increased competition with more products eligible to show, will continue to pay for ads. For e-commerce marketers and SEOs, the move adds a new layer to organic product search optimization efforts.