Google Expands Free Shopping Ads to More Countries

Hundreds of millions of shopping searches occur on Google every day.

So, retailers that use the platform enjoy a massive exposure to the millions of search engine users. As physical stores across the world shut down, online stores have become a lifeline for retailers.

Unfortunately, many businesses can’t afford to pay for Google Shopping listings due to the current financial crises.

That’s why Google introduced free shopping ads back in April. However, it was only available to retailers in the United States.

“In light of these challenges, we’re advancing our plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google,” wrote Bill Ready, an executive at Google.

The free shopping ads option was a massive hit.

According to Google, retailers running free listings and ads in the United States got twice as many views on average. What’s more, they enjoyed 50 percent more visits than businesses who didn’t run free listings.

This led to the next stage.

Bringing Free Shopping Ads to More Countries

Following the success in the U.S., Google is now expanding free shopping ads to more regions. These include countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

In a blog post announcement, President of Google’s Asia Pacific operations, Scott Beaumont, said:

 “We’re extending similar support across the broader region: making it free for merchants in Asia Pacific to list their products on the Google Shopping tab.”

According to Google, the change will take effect by mid-October.

Here’s how to run a free listing.

Running Free Listings in Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center is a pre-requisite for running free Google Shopping Ads.

That means retailers already using the tool and paid shopping ads won’t have to do much to set things up. They can simply pull the information from the product feed in Merchant Center.

However, if you haven’t set up product feed in your account, here’s how to start:

1. After signing into Merchant Center, click Growth.
2. Click Manage Programs and Select Surface across Google
3. Use a product feed to add your products.
4. Verify your website and confirm that it belongs to you
5. Click Activate to complete the setup.

Again, a Merchant Center account is necessary to take advantage of Google’s free listing. So, retailers without an account will have to create one.

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