We can't ignore it anymore. Ranking in the organic product results is now a hot topic in eCommerce SEO. When a search query qualifies for Organic Shopping, they even take up half of all organic space on page 1.
The trend is clear: organic product results have increased significantly across a wide range of search queries and are driving more and more traffic to eCommerce websites.
What you can read and learn in this blog post:
- Recent developments in Organic Shopping
- What is Organic Shopping and how is it displayed
- How do I become visible in the organic shopping results
- Increase visibility in the Organic Shopping results
- What does this mean for SEO?
- What if I'm not visible?
- How do I monitor the results?
- What can we expect?
Recent developments in Organic Shopping
In 2024, many developments have taken place in the legislation surrounding Google Shopping. As of March 2024, it is mandatory for Google advertisers to have Consent Mode set up.
Introduction of DMA legislation on Google Shopping
Additionally, companies have been required to comply with the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) legislation since March 7, 2024. This European legislation ensures, among other things, that comparison sites like beslist.nl also have the option to advertise for free within the Google Shopping results.
This legislation also ensures that additional spaces are added within the organic search results to give webshops and comparison sites more room and prominence. The shopping tab is also replaced by two new tabs.
Organic Shopping since April 2020 in America
The first Google Shopping ads were launched in November 2010 in America. This introduction marked an important step for Google in its increasing focus on e-commerce. About 10 years later, Google shook the world by also including free listings in the Google Shopping results. This was mainly visible through the Shopping tab, but they quickly became visible among the standard_blue_links in the regular search results pages (SERP).
America is a leader when it comes to new features in Google. In this country, the newest SERPs are always shown first and are often rolled out worldwide later. The introduction of Organic Shopping results in the US was a success and led to an increase in the use of this feature by both retailers and consumers. We already anticipated that the Organic Shopping results would also be shown in the SERP in the Netherlands and Belgium. In September 2023, we occasionally saw them appear, but since March 2024 it was really happening.
What is Organic Shopping and how is it displayed?
The organic shopping results show products that match the entered search query. These are displayed in Google as popular products, shopping knowledge panel and among the Google Images.
source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/pr…
These were always shown on the shopping tab first.
Since March 2024, organic shopping results are prominently displayed on the first page among the standard_blue_links, paa_box, images and other SERP features.
The shopping tab has disappeared and has been replaced by the tabs ‘products’ and ‘product sites’. In the ‘products’ tab, you will now find all relevant products. In the product sites’ tab, you will find price comparison sites.
But the product sites where websites with price comparisons are shown can also be found among the SERP features.
How do I become visible in the organic shopping results
To qualify for the free Google Shopping results, you need a few things:
- You need a Google Merchant Center account
- Furthermore, structured data for your products needs to be submitted
- Ensure an uploaded product feed with as many product specifications as possible
Once the product feed is approved, you can get started. If you are already using paid shopping ads, the above requirements are already in place.
How do you then qualify to be displayed in the free shopping results?
- Go to your Google Merchant Center
- Sign up for ‘Surfaces across Google’
- Or click ‘Growth’ on the left side of the navigation menu
- Then click on ‘Manage programs’
- You will then see ‘List your online products for free via Google platforms’
source:
Many e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, Wix, and Woocommerce, also support generating a shopping feed.
If your e-commerce platform does not support a product feed, you can also generate it using tools like Channable or Wordlift Product Knowledge Graph Builder.
Check after uploading your product feed if your products are approved in Merchant Center.
Increase visibility in the Organic Shopping results
There are several factors that can improve your visibility in Google Shopping. Below are some tips to help you optimize your Google Shopping feed.
Expand Product Structured Data
To be better displayed in the Organic Shopping results, it is important to add as many properties as possible in your product's structured data.
Add Product Variants
For example, you can add product variants in the Structured Data of a product. Think of a t-shirt that is available in multiple colors.
Other Recommended Structured Data
In your own Google Search Console account, you can also find recommendations to improve the display of your products, such as adding the shipping method and return policy.
By expanding your product structured data, this is shown in both your product snippets and the Organic Shopping results. This adds extra lines, making you stand out.
If you don't have this, you can still be in position 1, but you will stand out much less if the competition does have it. This ultimately also affects your CTR.
Conduct Keyword Research
If you are already running Shopping campaigns, make sure to search your search term reports to understand which search terms trigger your product ads. Consider adding popular terms that perform well in your product titles to increase the number of views for your products. You can also extract many interesting search terms from Google Search Console, the Data Intelligence dashboard (from Follo) and Semrush and see which search terms organic shopping products are displayed on.
Optimize your product titles
Research has shown that optimizing product titles can have a significant impact on display and click-through rates in Google Shopping ads. The results are similar for organic listings. Understanding how users search for products like yours helps you create well-optimized product titles in your feed. Always consult with your SEA colleague before adjusting product titles, as this will obviously also affect paid shopping campaigns.
Price
If you are running paid Shopping campaigns, the price competitiveness report in Google Merchant Center can be useful to show how your product prices compare to the competition. You need to sign up for Market Insights in GMC to use this feature. This report only shows data from ads but can help you determine how price-competitive your products are in general. Make sure the price data in your feed matches the prices on your landing pages.
Reviews
To increase your visibility in the Organic shopping results, it is also very important to collect product reviews and have them loaded into your product feed. This makes you stand out among competitors who do not have this. Additionally, it also provides extra trust for the consumer.
Images
High-quality product images are a must. A product image can make or break a sale. The better the images, the more they attract customers. Additionally, it is also very important to check if Google can index the images. It still happens too often that images rely too much on JavaScript, making it difficult for Google to index them.
Product Description
Make sure to properly include your targeted keywords in the product description. Moreover, ensure that your product description is specific, accurate, and engaging for the readers. So do not use the standard product description from the manufacturer. Additionally, it is also important that your product description consists of at least 500 characters. If this is not the case, you will receive a notification from Google Merchant Center.
Product Specifications
Furthermore, it is also important to add as many product specifications as possible to a product. You can consult Chat GPT, for example, to find out what possible product specifications there are.
Then you can automatically generate this by linking Google Spreadsheets with Chat GPT. This way, you quickly and efficiently have a handy overview per product with the product specifications. You can then load these on the product page.
With the advent of organic product results, we are getting back a piece of commerce that paid shopping ads have long taken over. Additionally, it provides:
- Increased visibility: Products appearing in Shopping are shown in prominent positions in the search results, often above the organic blue links. This increases the chance that potential customers will see your products, even if they are not directly searching for your website.
- More targeted traffic: Users who click on Shopping listings are already interested in buying products in your category. This leads to more targeted traffic to your website, resulting in a higher conversion rate and more revenue. Click-through rates (CTR's) for Shopping listings are generally higher than for organic blue links, indicating greater user engagement.
Make the assortment available that is too expensive for paid advertising
With the rise of Organic Shopping, you can make the entire assortment available. For paid advertising, products are often excluded from the shopping feed that are too expensive to advertise with or that are not interesting enough due to competition or margin. It is possible to exclude products only for Shopping Ads without having to remove them from the feed. This way, you don't have to use separate feeds.
Link your store inventory to your shopping feed
By linking your store inventory to your shopping feed, you can also be shown in the organic shopping results with products that are in stock near the consumer. This can increase your store visits and sales.
Category pages become less visible
The organic shopping results take up a lot of space. Where you used to only see category pages (standard_blue_links) you now almost only see product results. This pushes the category pages down, which can affect the number of clicks on them and the CTR.
What if I'm not visible?
It is possible that after all the optimizations and implementations mentioned above, you are still not displayed in the organic shopping results. Below you can read what you can do and what possible causes might be.
Check Google Merchant Center for disapproved products
It is always good to regularly check Google Merchant Center to see if any products are disapproved for some reason. Even if a product was initially approved, there is always the possibility that it will be disapproved later.
Check for errors in Google Search Console
Additionally, it is also important to check if there are any errors detected in your product snippets or seller listings within Google Search Console.
Are organic shopping results even being shown?
Additionally, it is good to check if you even see organic product results appearing for certain keywords. For some keywords, I have already experienced that paid shopping ads are shown, but no organic ones.
How do I monitor the results?
You can see the performance of the free product listings in Google Merchant Center, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, or through a custom-made dashboard.
Google Merchant Center
In Google Merchant Center, you can find an overview of how your free listings are performing and how many clicks this has generated under the performance section.
Google Search Console
In Google Search Console, you can see this in the performance report using a new filter called seller listings.
Google Analytics
In Google Analytics 4, you can also see the actual number of users, sessions, and even the revenue that has come in via Organic Shopping, along with the income. Provided this is set up correctly.
Data Intelligence Dashboard
At Follo, we love collecting our own data. We are data-driven. We don't believe in blindly trusting SEO tools or what Google tells us. We believe in collecting our own data to gain real insights and take action based on that. We have also built a dashboard where we can monitor clicks from Google Organic Shopping, along with the search queries and associated pages.
What can we expect?
Google as a Marketplace
As mentioned earlier, Google America is ahead compared to Google in other countries. The Google search results in America already look very different. In America, the search engine has become a sales platform where you can also filter. See an example below.
source: https://speakerdeck.com/aleyda/ecommerce-seo-the-keys-for-success-in-20…
Additionally, here the organic shopping results are even displayed above the category pages.
Personalized shopping experiences
Additionally, Google has announced that more personal shopping experiences will be made available. This is only available in the United States for now, but it may also come to Europe.
- Rate styles to discover more of what you like
Based on your input, you will see more personalized shopping results. You will see a section labeled 'style recommendations' when you search for certain clothing, shoes, or accessories.
source: https://blog.google/products/shopping/google-personalized-shopping-tips/
- favorite brands
You can also indicate which brands you like and then receive personalized shopping ads from them.
- Shop with AI
Google has also developed AI image generation for shopping. This allows you to shop for a certain clothing style you have in mind but can't easily find on Google.
- Virtual fitting
Some organic shopping results now also have the label try-on. Here you can see how a certain piece of clothing fits in a certain size.
Search Generative Experience (SGE)
In May 2023, Google began rolling out the new Google Search Generative Experience (SGE). Only people who have signed up for the waiting list have access to this and can provide feedback. With the advent of AI, Google set up SGE as an experiment to integrate AI capabilities into the search engine. Below is an example of what it looks like.
Conclusion
Organic Shopping has been prominently present in the Dutch search results of Google since March 2024. This offers a huge opportunity for online stores to display their products for free to potential customers and thus also increase their revenue. By following the tips in this article, you can increase your chances of success. It is important to closely monitor developments in Organic Shopping and adjust your strategy as needed. This way, you can ensure that you take full advantage of these opportunities.
Want to know more about Organic Shopping, our Data Intelligence Dashboard, or have another SEO question? Feel free to contact us.
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