Vital to any ecommerce business is the ability to have your product showcased in a place where it will be seen by thousands of potential buyers. You could have the best product in the world but if no one ever sees it, it’s not going to sell very well, if at all. For this reason, we always recommend that our clients use Google Merchant Center (GMC).
What Is Google Merchant Center?
At its most basic level, Google Merchant Center is an online tool that helps businesses sell their products. It accomplishes this by allowing you to upload your product catalog so that your products appear across Search, Maps, YouTube and Google’s Display Network. Your products will then begin appearing in Google Search results where they can easily be seen by users whose searches are related to your product.
There are two ways you can make use of Google Merchant Center. They are:
- Free Listings- This will allow your products to be shown organically when Google believes a user’s query is related to one of your products. Having a robust search engine optimization strategy will go a long way in having your product shown in organic listings.
- Paid Listings- These work by connecting with your Google Ad campaigns, allowing you to pay to have your product shown, just like with a traditional ad.
Unfortunately, many advertisers underestimate just how useful and powerful GMC can be when it comes to driving sales. Most will only check in on their GMC account at the very start of a project, letting it fall by the wayside as time goes on. This lack of attention eventually leads to issues at the feed or account level, resulting in their accounts being suspended. It is only after seeing the negative impact this suspension has on sales that they realize just how powerful GMC is.
Understanding Your GMC Account
When your products are showcased on the search engine results page (SERP), a plethora of information will be provided to users. This includes what products are shown, promotions, sales, shipping info, returns, reviews, product details and more. You provide all of this information through your GMC account, which is why it is important to understand your account and review it periodically. Now, let’s dive into some of the fundamentals of your GMC account you’ll need to know to use it effectively.
Settings
When setting up your Google Merchant Center, you will need to provide information in order to establish a number of settings. These settings are:
- Business Information- You will need to provide all relevant information about your business. This includes business name and address, website, and contact details.
- Brand- You will need to provide business logos and colors to help customers recognize your brand and products.
- Shipping Policies- Here, you will choose which countries, regions, states you are able to ship to, as well as what currencies you accept. In addition, Google requires you to upload shipping costs and delivery times. Make sure the information is accurate.
- Return Policies- This is where you can specify if you accept returns and if so, under what terms – costs, return window.
- Taxes- Based on where your business is located, Google will suggest a sales tax setup for you to use. If desired, you can also choose to input your sales tax settings manually. Make sure these are accurate, if your GMC settings do not reflect what the user then finds on your online store, you can be suspended.
- Auto-Improvements- You will need to decide whether or not to allow Google to make auto-improvements. When this setting is turned on, product details will be automatically updated when changes are made on your website. For example, if you lower the price of a product. Using auto-improvements can greatly improve the customer experience.
Make sure you double check everything with these settings. All of this information will be shown to customers. If it is incorrect, it could negatively impact customer experience, cause a loss of sales, and an increase in returns.
Product Feed
The product feed is the list of all your products and relevant information regarding them. This feed is what Google will pull from when displaying your products on the SERP. Careful attention should be paid to your product feed to ensure that accurate information is being given to potential customers. For more information regarding your product feed and how to optimize it, check out our guide here.
Once your primary feed is created and optimized, it is wise to consider the use of supplemental feeds. A supplemental feed provides information that is not present in the primary feed, such as labels based on performance, additional product attributes, user preferences, and much more.
Growth Opportunities
Google Merchant Center is capable of providing powerful insights that can be used to help grow your business. These insights mainly come in the form of different reports. If you do not inspect these reports and digest the information within, then you are not using Google Merchant Center to its full potential. We find that the three most useful reports are:
- Performance Reports- This report will provide a wealth of information on how your product is performing. It will show impressions, clicks, and conversions. You are able to segment these reports by country, product, brand, or category. Performance reports can be extremely useful for finding pain points, allowing you to begin forming a plan to address them.
- Competitiveness Reports- Here, you’ll be able to see how your competitors are pricing the same products that you sell. You will also see the average price being charged for the products you offer. Frequently reading this report is vital if you want your prices to stay competitive. Remember, keeping your prices competitive is integral to driving sales.
- Bestseller Insights- GMC will tell you which brands and products are currently selling the best. It will also tell you whether or not you currently offer them. This info is extremely useful when it comes to growth. It can help you make decisions when it comes to expanding your product catalog. It can also help you notice seasonal trends and take advantage of them to increase sales.
These reports are not meant to only be checked once. You should make looking at them a part of your routine. Staying up to date on the information they provide can go a long way in making your business a success and allowing it to experience continual growth.
There are also two tools within GMC that you should be sure to use if you want your business to grow. These are customer reviews/product ratings and promotions. The more positive reviews or ratings your products receive, the more likely they are to be shown to users, and the more likely those users will be to make a purchase. Consider having a call to action on your website for customers to leave reviews of your business and ratings of your product.
Promotions are an extremely powerful tool when it comes to driving sales. Currently, Google accepts the following promotion types:
- Discounts
- Free Gifts
- Free or Discounted Shipping
Oftentimes, using one or more of these promotions will result in a marked increase in sales. Promotions can also be very effective if used seasonally, such as with swimsuits at the beginning of summer or common gifts near holidays.
Need Help Getting the Most out of Your Google Merchant Center Account?
We know that really diving into your Google Merchant Center account can be intimidating. If you need any help with setting up your GMC account or making use of the insights it provides, Rise Marketing Group would love to help. Click here to go to our ecommerce services page and fill out the contact form. We’ll get in touch as soon as possible to see how we can help!
