Free Listings in the Google Shopping Tab

On Apr. 21, 2020, Google announced that they will show product listings for free on the Google Shopping Tab.

This builds upon a Feb 22, 2019 announcement that Surfaces on Google listings will be free.

What does this all mean?

A picture is worth a thousand words, so please take a look at this diagram:

Surfaces on Google, Shopping Ads, and Shopping Tab Diagram

What do you need to do?

The short answer is nothing. All existing Google Shopping feeds are automatically opted into Surfaces on Google, and therefore eligible for free listings. Skip to the end of this email for some strategy tips.

When will this take effect?

By the end of this month, free listings should start appearing on the Google Shopping Tab.

What if I have an existing Shopping Ads Campaign?

According to the Help page, "Paid listings will continue to appear in ad slots and will operate in the same way as Shopping Ads do today."

How do I view my free clicks?

Coming soon, a graph will show your unpaid clicks in your Google Merchant Center account, under Performance > Dashboard.

What new strategy do you recommend?

If you have an existing Google Shopping feed, do not suspend your paid Shopping Ads campaigns. It sounds like those listings will continue to appear in prime ad locations and drive the most clicks.

If you are currently filtering out items from your Google Shopping feed, instead, set 'excluded_destination' to 'Shopping Ads'. This way, the items will appear in free listings, but not in any paid ad campaigns. Please contact us and we can set this up for you for no extra charge.

If you currently do not have a Google Shopping feed, add one to take advantage of the free listings. We charge $7.80/month for additional Standard feeds.

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