“Surfaces Across Google” could be the answer to how to increase your eCommerce business with your Google Merchant Account. Think of it as a free marketplace using Google Search, Images, and Shopping tabs. The best part of this for you, the business owner, is the cost: FREE!
If you haven’t kept up with what’s going on with Google, Quantus Creative, and we can give you an overview of the Google services that can help your business. You’re probably wondering what “Surfaces Across Google” is. Google is offering eCommerce owners a place where they can showcase their products all across Google platforms, including:
- Google Search
- Google Shopping Tab
- Google Images
- Google Lens
- And more
Posting on these platforms will give Ecommerce business owners results similar to those in Google’s search index. Surfaces across Google is available to both advertisers and non-advertisers in Google Shopping. Regardless which of these camps your Ecommerce falls in, you can’t shop online without an Ecommerce website that lists pricing.
So, what do you need to get up and running on Surfaces Across Google?
- Set up a Google Merchant Center account.
- Add your products to the Merchant Center if you don’t have an account already.
Once you have met these elements and some met some setup requirements, your Ecommerce inventory will appear on those platforms. Keep in mind that the quality of the information you provide on these Google platforms will affect your results, just like Google search always has.
How Is Surfaces Across Google Setup?
For a business owner that is new to the Google Merchant Center, setting up your account is your first step. For existing Google Shopping advertisers, check your Google Merchant Center account. If your products are there, they are ready for Surfaces Across Google. The steps to check this are:
Products > Feeds and then search the list of channels where your feed should be showing on. If you’re having trouble finding them and believe they should be there, or you’re having trouble setting up your Google Merchant Account, contact the team at Quantus Creative for help.
Steps For Setting Up A Product Feed
There are several ways of creating a feed, including:
- Using an XML feed or text delimited file that can be created by a feed plugin or is outputted from your website
- A Google Sheet feed file automatically is ideal via your web server
- Adding your products one by one in Google Merchant Center is ideal if you have few products and your pricing remains constant
- The advanced option is to register with Google’s Content API and connect your product data to Google Merchant Center
There are minimum requirements for your product feed that include:
- id
- title
- link
- image_link
- price
There are other attributes necessary to enhance your listings to show on the Google Shopping tab, which the Quantus Creative team can review with you. They will show you how to track your traffic from Google Surfaces and how to set up a Local Google Surface store too.
In Conclusion
If you are searching for additional sources of traffic and you have an online store, then set up on both local and standard Surfaces across Google is recommended. The number of free traffic you’ll see is worth the time!
