Google Overhauls Google Shopping With New Options and Features

Over the years, Google has added many features that have made the global search giant useful for finding local goods. Google can do more than simply inform the customer of a local store’s location and operating hours. A recent update to Google Shopping is making it easier for advertisers to optimize campaigns for multiple channels, including in-store visits.

Google is redesigning Google Shopping to make it easier for consumers to buy products in multiple ways. The goal is to let people shop and purchase frictionlessly from Google Search, Google Images, YouTube, and a redesigned Google Shopping destination.

Shoppers will get a personalized home page with access to multiple features such as product filters, reviews, product videos, and more. The redesign is part of a larger plan by Google to make Google Shopping more accessible and useful for consumers.

In a post announcing the changes and updates, Google wrote, “This year we’re unveiling a redesigned Google Shopping experience with new, immersive ways for shoppers to discover and compare millions of products from thousands of stores. When they’re ready to buy, they can choose to purchase online, in a nearby store and now directly on Google. For retailers and brands, it brings together ads, local and transactions in one place to help them connect with consumers at the right time.”

When using Google Shopping, there is a blue shopping cart badge that shows when products are covered by a Google guarantee. Adding this information can encourage people to buy since they know Google will assist them if the item isn’t what they were expecting, the order is late, or issues are getting a refund.

The first group to benefit from these changes are Shopping Actions merchant, whose products will be part of this new easy purchase experience on Google Shopping, Google.com, and the Google Assistant. Google plans to expand these advanced shopping actions to platforms like YouTube, later this year.

As you might expect, the updates come with new advertising options for business owners. Google is expanding Showcase Shopping ads, which they describe as “a highly visual ad format that incorporates rich lifestyle imagery” to even more surfaces like Google Images and the feed on Discover.

Using these tactics will help brands reach new customers, rather than continually targeting people who have seen your ads before. According to Google, the average advertiser will see that about 80 percent of traffic from Showcase Shopping ads to retailer sites are from new visitors just discovering the brands.

Google is also testing a new program that will help local store owners. They have a beta program that simplifies processes to buy-online, pick-up-in-store service through Google Ads. You need product landing pages on your site that shows when an in-store pickup is available, and a local inventory feed in Merchant Center, which indicates which items you have in stock. You should also note which items you can quickly ship to store for in-store pickup. You can sign up for the beta if you don’t want to wait for the official launch.

For more recent news about updates and changes to Google, read this article on new automated bidding options that Google Ads now offers.