As you may have heard, Google released free shopping listings on the Google Shopping Tab last year in October. These free listings are available to all e-commerce retailers who have an approved Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping Feed. They appear in the Google results at no cost to the advertiser. Paid ads will continue to show on the main search page and on the Shopping tab above the free listings.
As a result of this release, you may have noticed that your organic channel performance has increased. This increase in performance may be due to free clicks from the Shopping tab. These free clicks would not be possible without a Google Shopping feed which is connected and managed in your Google Merchant Center.
Here is an example of paid shopping ads vs. free shopping ads.
As you can see, the top section of the Google Shopping tab is reserved for paid Shopping ads. You will only show here if you are running Google Shopping Ads through Google Ads (PPC/paid advertising). Below the paid shopping ads are the free ads on the Shopping tab.
How to report on free shopping clicks?
To see the value free shopping clicks are driving to our clients, we made changes to our clients Google Analytics. It now allow for free shopping clicks to show in a separate line in the source/medium report. This report can be found in Google Analytics under Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium > looking for âRQmedia / google-free-shopping-listingsâ.
As you can see here, over 10 days, Google Free Listings has bought in 353 users and over 400 sessions for this fashion retailer. Of those users, there were 7 transactions for a revenue of over $1,000.
Here are some other snapshots of the results some of our clients are seeing from Google Shopping Free Clicks.
Music Instruments & Equipment
Over the last 10 days, this client saw over 2,300 sessions, 92 transactions from free shopping clicks resulting in over $28,000.
Electronics
Over the last 10 days, this client saw over 1,200 sessions, 51 transactions from free shopping clicks resulting in over $17,000.
Furniture & Bathroom
Over the last 10 days, this client saw over 750 sessions, 8 transactions from free shopping clicks resulting in over $2,500.
Fashion
Over the last 10 days, this client saw over 300 sessions, 10 transactions from free shopping clicks resulting in over $1,000.
Final words
For current advertisers running Google Shopping, Googleâs release means paid shopping campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. Existing users of Merchant Center and Shopping ads donât have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings. You can easily see the breakdown of organic, paid shopping and free shopping performance in your Google Analytics accounts.
For those interested in free shopping clicks and looking to get started, Google has named FeedOps as a key partner in helping merchants manage their products and inventory. We will help you connect your eCommerce store to Google Merchant Center and get free exposure to millions of people who go to the Google Shopping tab every day â no coding required.
Get started here or reach out to us with any questions you might have.
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