What Is The Google Merchant Center

Google is a powerful search engine, which is considered a basis of premium standard resource hub in the digital age. Also, Google greatly supports e-commerce and small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs with the launch of Google Merchant Center, which is a digital platform that merchants can use to store information of both products sold online and in brick-and-mortar stores.

In this post, you’ll learn more about Google Merchant Center and its important features and benefits to help you attain business growth and success. 

What Is Google Merchant Center? 

Google Merchant Center is an online centralized hub wherein you can easily pull up your product and store information, so your details are accessible to online shoppers across Google. For instance, if an online user searches on Google, your products and store show up, including relevant information about your business. 

Things you can do with a Merchant Center Account

1. Upload and Show Accurate Product Information

Customers always want up-to-date details about the products they’re planning to buy. With the help of Google Merchant Center, you can upload them right and updated product information, such as the prices and availability, to show up correctly to potential customers.

2. Reach More Customers

Millions of people use Google every day, so it’s a perfect platform for merchants to reach more customers. Google Merchant Center empowers shopping experience. More than product advertising, you can show your products to Google shoppers worldwide via paid and unpaid channels. It can be done across various Google surfaces and services, including Shopping Actions and Shopping ads.

3. Learn Helpful Insights

Google Merchant Center provides actionable insights on merchandising, pricing, and holistic reports. In this way, you’ll be able to make better business decisions, most especially concerning developing the right business strategies. 

Benefits of Using Google Merchant Center

Far more you can imagine, Google Merchant Center goes beyond advertising. It provides helpful insights via its reporting tools so that you can make better business decisions in the future. 

Here are the benefits of using the Google Merchant Center:

  • Global Exposure: Selling your products and promoting your brand globally is possible with the help of the Google Merchant Center. Get your products seen in the international market via Google’s shopping ads in more than 90 countries. Show your inventory or stocks to potential customers worldwide by setting up multi-country feeds.
  • Offer and Highlight Promotions: The best deals are seen on Google. With Google Merchant Center, setting up promotions to select products and site-wide promotions are possible. Also, you can restrict promotions for your Shopping ads if you deem necessary.
  • Improve Results: In the ‘Opportunities’ page, you can drive more clicks and get improved results based on relevant product data available. In this way, you can provide customized opportunities to shoppers and increase your chances of more people availing of your products. 

How to Set up a Google Merchant Center Account

Google Merchant Center allows millions of online shoppers to find, explore, and purchase your products, getting your products to the right customers using a suite of programs, such as Shopping ads, Shopping Actions, and surfaces across Google.

If you want to make your online or physical store and product information available to Google shoppers, then it’s high time to set up your Google Merchant Account. Here’s how: 

  • Set up a Google or Gmail account if you don’t have one yet at accounts.google.com. 
  • Once you have a Google or Gmail account, you can now go and type in merchants.google.com on the browser. 
  • Now you can sign up with Google Merchant Center using your Google or Gmail account. 
  • Type in your business information when asked and add the country or location where you registered your business under the ‘Business country.’

Helpful Tips When Creating a Google Merchant Center Account

Once you have a Google Merchant account open, you’ll be asked to verify important business details, such as your contact information. After this, you can prepare your product information to be submitted through a feed. However, before you can go this far, you have to keep important things in mind when setting up your account. 

Here are some other helpful tips when you’re creating a Google Merchant account:

  • Account Name: Bear in mind that you will use your business name as the Merchant Center account name, and it could be the name of your store, website, or your business. Google users will see this information across the search engine. 
  • Changing Time Zones: Be careful in changing the time zone of your Google Merchant account. The time zone is automatically set based on the information you entered on the ‘Business country.’ While you can change the time zone through the settings section of your account, changing it may alter how Google calculates your performance metrics. Also, it means that any changes in the time zone won’t apply to previous data. 

Fun Facts About Google Merchant Center

  1. Google Merchant Center is generally free to use. But if you wish to have more clicks from potential customers on your Shopping ads, then fees would apply.
  2. You can use your Google Merchant Center account to power your local inventory ads and let eager shoppers find your offered products in your online store or your brick-and-mortar store. 
  3. With a Google Merchant account, you can maximize the use of ‘Shopping Actions,’ which is a shopping program enabling retailers, distributors, and wholesalers to surface their different products across various Google platforms. 
  4. Google Merchant Center promotes a frictionless experience by using a universal shopping cart, instant checkout, and shareable list. Selling your products across Google Images, voice search, Google Shopping, and YouTube is possible when you join the Shopping Actions program.
  5. Your Google Merchant Center feed is an essential part of your account because it is considered as the primary source of information that Google needs in order to create your products’ Shopping ads. It’s also called Google Shopping feed, which is a spreadsheet you use to enter your product details and that Google uses to understand your product information.

Conclusion

Google Merchant Center enables you to promote your products globally, highlight your promotions, and give more options to shoppers by making your business visible online. It’s a powerful platform to increase your business exposure and reach more potential customers using different Google services. Make your product info easily accessible to potential customers through Google search engine using and empowering your paid or unpaid marketing strategies.  

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.