A Comprehensive Google Merchant Center Guide (2022) for Businesses Selling Online

A Comprehensive Google Merchant Center Guide (2022) for Businesses Selling Online

When the world is going digital every business owner wants to sell their products online. In order to promote the products they want to show them on Google and run the shopping ads.

To understand the whole process you must understand about Google Merchant Center. I have created this comprehensive Google Merchant Center Guide for Businesses Selling Online.

In this Google Merchant Center Guide, we’ll cover the topics like:

• What is Google Merchant Center?
• What are the benefits of Google Merchant Center?
• How to set up Google Merchant Center?
• and much more in detail.

So let’s dive into the details in this Google Merchant Center Guide.

What is Google Merchant Center?

Google Merchant Center is a unique digital platform or dashboard where online businesses can manage their presence across all Google e-commerce products and make changes to their online offerings as needed.

The main goal of the Google Merchant Center is to allow businesses to upload and maintain product information, including images and prices so that they show up in relevant Google Shopping searches. Other Google services like Google My Business etc. have also been integrated with Google Merchant Center to offer strong monitoring and control of Google-based marketing and e-commerce.

What is the Cost to use Google Merchant Centre?

Google Merchant Center is absolutely free to set up and use. You can upload your product inventory for free. One may use GMC for free product listing on the Google Shopping Tab.

But if you want to run Google Shopping Ads, you need to pay for the same and this is the primary reason to set up Google Merchant Center. The cost depends on the type of payment model. There are two main payment models:

• Cost per click (CPC): In this payment model, you need to pay only when someone clicks on your ad.
• Cost per engagement (CPE): In the CPE model, you need to pay when someone expands and engages with, scrolls, or taps on a displayed ad for more than ten seconds.

What are the benefits of Google Merchant Center?

The foremost important benefit of Google Merchant Center is that it is a doorway to advertise your products with Google Shopping. It is with Google Merchant Center you can store necessary product details and information that are required to create and serve your products ads to prospective customers.

Your products will not appear on Google Shopping in the absence of the Google Merchant Center (GMC). Also, you won’t be able to run product ads unless you submit sufficient product information to your GMC account.

It is one of the very useful tools to sell your products online directly to consumers. This should undoubtedly be an essential part of your digital marketing strategy.

How To Set up a Google Merchant Center Account?

With the help of the below steps you can easily set up Google Merchant Center Account:

1. Create an Account

First, you need to create an account to start using Google Merchant Center. This can be done with the help of Gmail or a Google My Business account. You can use your already existing Gmail or Google My Business account to sign in to Google Merchant Center.

2. Go to Google Merchant Center Website

After creating your account you need to visit the Merchant Center website. Now click “Get Started” to set up your Google Merchant Center profile.

3. Fill in your Business Information

The next step is to fill in your business’s information. Here you need to enter details like the company’s country, name, and website address. Also, you need to add extra information like your name and email address.

4. Upload Your Products

Now, when you want to run Google Shopping ads and local inventory ads you must upload your products first. You can create a catalog of products that you can choose from to promote on Google. For this, you need to create a Google Merchant Center feed.

When you run your ads Google uses this feed as the data source to create your ads.

The following steps help you to add your products:

1. Log in to your Google Merchant Center Account.
2. Next step is to go to the “Products” category and click on “Feeds”.
3. Here you need to click on the “+” sign.
4. Here you can either input your data manually or upload your catalog information in a .TXT or .CSV file.
5. Now submit your feed.

You can upload your whole inventory into your feed. Google allows uploading your data from:

• Google Sheets
• Scheduled fetch
• Uploaded file

While you upload your products you must include the necessary information of products like:

• ID
• Title
• Brand Name
• Category
• Description
• Link
• Image link
• Availability
• Price

To keep the ‘Active’ status for your products and run ads constantly you have to submit your product data every 30 days. However, you should do it more often if the data in your feed changes. This change includes the addition of new products, deleting old products, out-of-stock products, price variation, offer, discount, etc.

The maximum limit to update your feed is four times a day.

5. Showcase Your Products

Now when you are done with uploading your products you can start showcasing them. Google Merchant Center helps you discover your products from Shopping Ads to local inventory ads.

How to Advertise with Google Merchant Center?

After setting up your Google Merchant Center Account you will find some new advertising options as mentioned below:

1. Google Shopping ads

Google Shopping ads are the most popular ad format through Google Merchant Center. You can see in the image below that these ads are visible at the top search results and display your products, along with other brands’ products in a carousel-like format.

In this kind of ad you can showcase the details like product name, price, seller’s name, unique attribute (product reviews, free shipping, etc.)

These kinds of ads will be very useful and your products will appear to the people searching for products your offer.

2. Local Inventory ads

Local inventory ads mainly target nearby buyers. This ad focuses to showcase your products to the local shoppers. People searching for the products you deal will see your ads and land up to the Google page for your store. The buyers reach your page and see your products, price, store timings, directions, etc. Through this ad, the shoppers get to know about what you have and they can visit your business to buy the product.

You may like to watch the full playlist on Google Merchant Center here. 

Difference between Google Shopping Ads and Local Inventory Ads

The primary difference is between the two ads is that local inventory ads need you to have a physical store. Because these ads aim you get local footfall to your store. So you cannot run these ads if you don’t have a physical store.

On the other hand, Google Shopping ads can be run by any kind of business either an e-commerce store or a physical store.

Final Words on Comprehensive Google Merchant Center Guide

Now, it is clear that if you are really interested to make your products reach more and more people online, Google Merchant Center is the right place to start. It is very easy to set up as explained in the blog. You can upload your products in one place and also run ads to target the right people looking for your products.

If you have time and are ready to learn you can do it on your own, but if you lack time to do it you can get the Google Merchant Center Management Services from an experienced company.

At InfoTalks we offer specialized Google Merchant Center Services that drive you more sales. If you are ready to get started Contact us online or call us today at +91-7905550853 to talk to our expert.

 

Must Read:

10X Your Online Sales Using Google Shopping (2022)

Google Shopping Ads – An Ultimate Guide to Boost Your Online Sales (2022)

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