What is Google shopping feed?

The world has advanced and technology seems to be the answer to everything. Technology has made life simpler in a lot of ways and one of them is none other than the global search engine-Google.

Google shopping feed is one of those platforms that has made businesses and profits gain from it a thousand times better. It’s not only quicker but also much more effective because of the various tools and techniques that are available on the Google shopping platform that makes it a fun affair.

Google shopping feeds, in short, have all the information about your products, it is like a page full of details or information about your product that forms like a product catalog for your business.

All the information, the necessary ones that would be needed to ensure that your business takes a positive flight, this is necessary for Google to enter your product feed and understand it better.

It is only when Google understands what you are trying to sell and all the product listings that are made, that will ensure the kind of optimization that can be applied to drive maximum traffic to your feed. Once, the results of the profits gained are positive, you will also know how beneficial Google shopping feeds are for your business. The more organized, the better.

It is important to understand that these shopping campaigns are much different in comparison to normal search engines. The reason why your shopping feed needs to be organized properly and be attractive is that that will help Google to understand the kind of advertisements that will be needed to promote your products.

Google shopping feeds are much more particular about their intentions. The information being provided has the sole purpose of popping up on screens when a particular query is searched for, and Google helps in doing exactly that by understanding the identity of your shopping feed.

Why is the Google shopping feed important for your e-commerce store?

a) As discussed earlier, one of the sole purposes to create a Google shopping feed on a very effective and worldwide known e-commerce platform is that it has an intention. That being said, your product will be flashed on their screens when a particular query is searched for.

It is very focused. Your Google shopping feed is the page filled with the information, which is exactly what Google needs to know regarding the particular kind of search queries, which when searched for will list your products. That makes the reach of your product wider and more impactful.

b) All such rules need to be followed, to ensure that the person is interested in your ads. Unless the information provided on your feeds about your products are well defined, Google cannot suggest fruitful ways of creating ads.

Creating proper ads is what will lead to attracting all the prospective buyers of your products and eventually they will be intrigued to click on the ad to find out more.

c) Relevant information on products helps in optimizing your Google shopping ads. This is important to make sure that your products pop up when that exact query is looked for and that will drive traffic to your feed.

Therefore, to make that process easier and quicker, optimization being an important part of these e-commerce platforms and businesses, a rightly organized Google shopping feed is extremely important and necessary.

Reasons to ensure maximum optimization of your Google Shopping Feed

a) On an e-commerce platform, it is all about the visibility factor of your products. It depends on how many clicks your ads are getting and how that is driving traffic to your intended feed.

Hence, a well-organized Google shopping feed with relevant information about your products gives a good understanding of your products to Google, and then Google can provide tips and ways by which you can increase the visibility in the Google shopping domain, beneficial and profitable for your products and its sales.

b) If the information provided is relevant and enough, the ads created are also extremely accurate. This leads to more clicks on your ads. More clicks will determine an increase in the sales of your products and it all comes to become a full cycle.

It is all interlinked, hence beginning with the first step where your product catalog needs to look convincing is what that leads to the making of the advertisements, the number of clicks it gets, and then finally how it affects your sales.

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c) Google Shopping Feeds helps in properly categorizing your products on the e-commerce platform. A potential customer would like to have a clear understanding of the segmentation of your products to know exactly where to look for the product on your feed, through the various categories. Google shopping feed is a vast platform, the segmentation makes it a much-organized process.

d) These shopping campaigns are made to have only the amount that is needed and that, which is relevant for your products. Hence, an organized feed with just the right amount of relevant information will also increase the relevancy of your products with the right kind of search query asked by the potential customers.

A physical store might make this process a lot more laborious, but an e-commerce platform will direct a customer exactly towards the product they are looking for because of the high percentage of frequency.

Certain guidelines to keep in mind for your Google Shopping Feed

Rules and regulations matter a great deal when you are curating a Google shopping feed. You must follow certain guidelines and specifications that are already provided by Google so that your shopping feed does not go haywire and is on the same tangent as Google.

1. Be very specific about your product details

Proofread and be very sure about the key details that you want to put into your product information for the designated merchant center programs. The right information is the first and one of the key steps because it will determine how effective and impactful your ads are made to drive traffic to your product listings.

The correct format of your product information is very important as it is then tallied with the relevant queries searched for.

2. One proper official language is a must

It is important that you are aware of the available list of languages in the Merchant center and you pick one from there. You can use more than one official language, but at least one is mandatory.

Always keep in mind to diversify the product data as per the number of languages you pick, but the links of the product data leading to the landing page on your feed should have the same language. Especially your website, product data, and registration of that product needs to be in the same official language.

3. Keep return and refund policies in check

Adding a return policy to your shopping ads has its perks. The more enticing your policies are, the more Google is compelled to figure out certain interesting features and offers to add to your feed. It needs to be very convincing and competitive for Google to consider coming up with those features.

Always keep in mind to keep these policies extremely accessible to your potential customers. Just having it in the merchant center is not enough, you have to make sure that they are easily navigable to be found and be known for your customers, it helps in bettering the customer experience.

4. Be responsible with user information

These are some basics that one should keep in mind, more so on e-commerce platforms. An SSL-protected page is a must-have when asking for personal information like credit card numbers. Keep their personal information extremely confidential.

Do not use any of it on the shopping ads made unless they agree to its usage. Unless it is some marketing campaign that you are running, do not give any unnecessary incentives.

5. Website verification needs to be done

Search console is the domain that you need to be aware of to claim your website and remove it from the prying eyes of potential threats.

Your website needs to be verified to do so, the website address also known as URL needs to be edited. That is done by editing the HTML of your website all having the authority to upload files onto the server.

6. Some requirements that your website has to meet

i) Accuracy in contact details

Nowadays, a proper phone number and email is the least and one of the key steps you need to keep in mind after all the hard work that goes into building an e-commerce platform for your products. Customers should not have to face a hassle to contact you if interested.

ii) Checkouts of payments made trustworthy

Credit/Debit card details are extremely crucial and personal. Your payment and transaction processes should be well secured, for that you need to ensure your SSL is well protected.

iii) Beneficial policies of return

Already mentioned earlier how beneficial the right return policy can be, make sure to have the right details for the same on your website.

iv) Rules of Billing

There are separate distinct terms and conditions provided for Billing that needs to be adhered to.

v) A completion of the checkout process

Make sure the process of adding products to the cart and a safe checkout process with payments and confirmation of the order is done smoothly.

7. Check up on your merchant center account

This needs to be done every 14 months to ensure that your product feed is always updated and to show that it is also active. Hence, checking up on it every once IN awhile is imperative for the sales of your products.

8. Similarities in data specifications should be maintained

Formatting of your product data with the specifications listed for it is important to submit your products to the intended merchant center.

There may be a lot of information to follow in the specifications, but this needs to be done to know about the data that needs to be submitted so that your data is incomplete in sync with the specification listed for the product data.

Ensuring maximum optimization of your Google feed

1. Focus on your product titles first

This is the first thing that will grab the attention of your potential customers, so make sure it is attractive and gives the right information. You have to keep in mind to make it extremely search friendly so that the right keywords are used to make it pop up when searched for.

i) Should always be led by key details: You have to understand that your customers might not have the interest to go through a long product title, so always put the key details or words at the beginning of the title that will let your customers know about the product.

ii)Category and Brand specification: This step just makes it easier for your customers to navigate to the right category and a brand and easily find the product that popped up in their search engine. Make it simple for customers to find your brand.

iii) Be specific: Be very specific about minute details like materials, condition, and pricing, those are the key features of your products that your customers will be looking for.

2. No compromise with image quality

Bad picture quality is a major turn-off for your customers as they cannot get an idea of what the product might look like in real life. Therefore never compromise with the image quality.

i) Image resolution: Google has a certain specification for image resolution, make sure you follow them so that image quality is not compromised.

ii) Don’t go overboard: Logos, promotional images, or watermarks should be avoided at all costs on the images of the products as it hinders the sight of the customers and causes a distraction.

3. Attention to your product

Categorization and proper listing of your products are very important to ensure maximum sales of them. Therefore give attention to details while organizing your feed.

i) Proper grouping: Ensure that the plural and singular product types are grouped as one. It helps in enabling clear communication with the customers.

ii) Product types: Have proper segmentation for your product types. It should be easily accessible to customers as per their requirements.

iii) Focus on the details: Always make sure that all the keywords are present in the product details. All the values of your products should come out clearly to your customers.

4. Accuracy is everything

Always maintain stringent accuracy with your product data. This is the information that will help Google to form relevant ads for your customers.

5. Always keep your feed updated

This is the reason why earlier it was mentioned that it is important for you to check up on your feed now and then. To ensure all the product details and pricing are kept updated.

6. Proper Google product delivery values

Your aim for the same should at least be 2-3 levels deep. Focus on the product delivery values to ensure proper functioning and reach of your feed to your customers.

7. Title of every product needs to be unique

Maintain a certain uniqueness for every title of every item in your product data. The uniqueness is what is going to catch the attention of potential customers and eventually drive them to your feed.

8. Polish your product data

i) Correct the spellings minutely: Your product data needs to be flawless. Wrong spellings are a major turn-off and show your lack of attention to details.

ii) Importance of language: It has been mentioned earlier how there are certain restrictions for the use of languages in your product data. Stick to them. Do not mix too many languages as it might lead to confusion. Make sure they match.

iii) Understand the right use of capitalization: One of the main features of cleaning your product data is to understand the key ways of making proper use of capitalization as it has a very important role to play on how your business fairs.

9. Using third party optimization tools

Feed optimization can be done using third-party services. Use third-party apps like AdNabu for Google shopping to help you do this quickly.

Conclusion

Hence, all these tips and techniques are sure to help you with a more effective way of making use of Google shopping ads and making them actionable for maximum benefits.

Guest Post Contribution from AdNabu

AdNabu helps improve sales in Google Ads for Shopify stores. If you are running google search, google shopping, or display campaigns in Google Ads, Their apps help to increase your sales.