How to Display WooCommerce Products in Google Shopping Results

Google Shopping is a fantastic medium for online shoppers to search for products they need. Not only that, it allows them to compare product features and, most importantly, help them find the best price.

No wonder Google Shopping receives over a billion searches per month. And it is equally an excellent platform for eCommerce/WooCommerce retailers like you as well.

The most incredible thing about the platform is you can list and display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping for absolutely free. You can also run paid ads on the platform, which can increase your reach manifold.

If you are not promoting your WooCommerce products on Google Shopping yet, then you are missing out on a world of opportunities. Here’s why –

• More than eight in ten consumers (81%) now conduct online research before making a purchase.
• 49% of shoppers use Google before making a purchase.
• With 36% of all product searches going through Google Shopping, it’s clear to see why this platform is so important to online discovery.
• An incredible 1.2 billion searches are made each month in Google Shopping.
• Most online retailers use Google Shopping ads to promote their wares.
• When compared to standard text ads, Google Shopping ads are 30% more productive.
• More than 85 percent of traffic to Google’s ad networks comes from shopping ads.
• Shopping ads account for $76 of every $100 spent on Google AdWords.

Therefore, we can safely say that you must promote your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping. However, getting WooCommerce products in Google Shopping requires you to follow some steps and go through a few platforms.

In this article, we will walk you through the steps of WooCommerce Google Shopping integration. But let’s start with what Google Shopping is in the first place.

What is Google Shopping?

Google Shopping is a price comparison engine where shoppers can search and compare products. As users primarily search to compare prices of the products, that’s why it’s called price comparison shopping engines.

Along with prices, a comparison engine also displays the most important product details, such as images, descriptions, key features, ratings, reviews, etc. When the shopper finally decides to purchase a product, the comparison engine will redirect them to the retailer’s product page.

Different shopping engines like Google Shopping also allow shoppers to directly purchase the product from the platform without going to the retailer’s site. The retailers have to pay a fee to the comparison engine to enjoy this service.

Google Shopping is by far the most popular price comparison engine for both buyers and sellers. It allows retailers like you to list and promote your products for free and run paid ads as well.

And the great news is, if you want your shoppers to purchase your products from Google Shopping directly, the platform doesn’t charge you anything. Isn’t that great!

However, this feature is now limited to only US-based stores.

Besides having its own domain, Google also displays your shopping listings across its network, including search engine result pages, YouTube, Maps, Images, and Google partner sites. Therefore, WooCommerce product listing on Google Shopping can earn you massive visibility through its vast network.

How does Google Shopping work?

Google Shopping is a search engine for finding products from different online retailers. It is integrated with the Google search engine results page (SERP), so when a user searches for a product on Google, they can see Google Shopping results by clicking the Shopping tab.

The Shopping tab is only triggered when someone searches for an eCommerce product. Users can also directly visit Google Shopping by going to the official website.

For example, if someone searches for “red t-shirt,” the Google SERP will display results similar to this:

As we have mentioned, when a user searches for “red t-shirts” on Google, they can see Google Shopping results by clicking the Shopping tab.

Google Shopping displays a list of similar products from different retailers, along with filters that users can use to narrow down their search.

The product listings on Google Shopping include the product price, title, short description, reviews and rating, and product gallery. When a user clicks on a product listing, they are taken to the retailer’s website to complete the purchase.

Google also allows retailers to sell their products directly on Google Shopping through the Buy on Google checkout experience. This feature is currently limited to eCommerce stores in the US.

What are Google Shopping Ads?

Google Shopping Ads are known as product-specific advertisements, often referred to as the paid listings on Google Shopping. When you list your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping, you can choose to run paid ads for some or all of the products.

Here’s where it gets exciting: Google doesn’t just show these ads in one place; it spreads the word all over the internet. You’ll see these ads on Google’s main search page (SERP), on YouTube, Google Maps, Google Images, apps, and even on websites that are partnered with Google.

Search ads and organic results take a back seat to Shopping Ads on Google. This means Google prioritizes the shopping ads over other listings or ads.

Let’s return to the results of our “red t-shirt” query. The Shopping ads take the top spot on the search engine results page (SERP).

In a similar way, Google promotes Shopping Ads to its comparison platform’s prominent position at the very top.

You will only see the free listings after the paid listings/ads. As a result, there is a greater chance that people will see and interact with Shopping Ads more than the free listings.

Google Shopping setup for WooCommerce

Google Shopping does not provide a straightforward interface for adding and promoting your products. Setting up Google Shopping for WooCommerce stores requires a number of intermediary steps and platforms.

In this procedure, there are two main parts— creating a product feed and uploading it to Google Merchant Center. In addition, you will need to use a Google Ads account to promote your store with paid Shopping ads.

Here’s the process in short. You create a product feed for your WooCommerce products. Then, you upload the feed to your Google Merchant Center account. Google Merchant will display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

And if you need to run ads for your products, you need to connect that Google Merchant Center account to your Google Ads account and run shopping campaigns.

Now, let’s check out the process in detail.

How to create a product feed?

Before we delve into the process of creating a WooCommerce product feed for Google Shopping, let’s find out what a product feed is.

What is a product feed?

A product feed is where you input your WooCommerce or eCommerce store’s product data in textual format. It includes your product information, such as title, description, price, stock unit, IDs, etc.

You can use product feed to submit your products to online marketplaces, comparison shopping engines, and other channels. Product feeds typically come in CSV, TSV, XML, or JSON format. The specific format required by the channel you are submitting to will vary.

Here are some of the benefits of using a product feed:

• Increased visibility: Your products will be more visible to shoppers when they search for products on the channels you submit your feed to.
• Increased traffic: More traffic to your store means more sales.
• Improved conversion rates: A well-optimized product feed can help you improve your conversion rates.
• Better insights: The channels you submit your feed to can provide you with insights into how your products are performing so you can make informed decisions about your marketing campaigns.

If you are selling products online, we highly recommend using a product feed to improve your visibility and performance on the channels you sell on. Most importantly, you must generate and upload a product feed to display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

Attributes in a product feed

Attributes, within the context of a Google Shopping for eCommerce feed, are the specific pieces of information or details about your products that you incorporate into the feed. Google utilizes these attributes to present your products within Google Shopping advertisements and search results.

Currently, there exists an extensive list of over 170 distinct attributes that you can integrate into your product feed. Google has categorized these attributes into ten main groups:

1. Basic product data: This encompasses fundamental product information like the product’s title, description, price, and images (Total 9 attributes).
2. Detailed product description: This includes supplementary details about the product, such as its dimensions, weight, and materials (Google Shopping has 4 attributes for this category).
3. Product category: This defines the product’s classification within Google’s taxonomy (11 attributes).
4. Price and availability: This provides information about the product’s price, availability, and shipping options (Google Shopping contains 8 attributes within this category).
5. Product identifiers: This entails unique identifiers for the product, like its GTIN or MPN (5 attributes).
6. Destinations: Information about where the product can be shipped (2 attributes).
7. Shipping: Details about the product’s shipping costs (4 attributes).
8. Tax: Information regarding the product’s tax status (2 attributes).
9. Marketplaces: Applicable if you sell on multiple platforms such as Amazon or eBay (3 attributes).
10. Shopping campaigns: Information regarding how the product is being promoted within Google Shopping (7 attributes).

The specific attributes you choose to include in your product feed should align with the nature of your products and the platforms where you distribute them. However, it’s advisable to incorporate as many relevant attributes as possible to enhance the visibility of your products within Google Shopping search results.

Most important Google Shopping attributes

Some of the key attributes essential for Google Shopping for eCommerce are:

• Product ID: A unique identifier for the product.
• Title: The product’s name.
• Description: A concise overview of the product.
• Product URL: The URL leading to the product’s page on your website.
• Category: The product’s classification in Google’s categorization.
• Image URL: The URL for the product’s image.
• Stock Availability: An indicator of whether the product is in stock.
• Regular Price: The product’s standard price.
• GTIN/MPN: Unique product identifiers.
• Product Condition: Information about the product’s condition.
• Manufacturer: The manufacturer of the product.

Incorporating the appropriate attributes into your product feed is instrumental in elevating the visibility of your products within Google Shopping, thereby expanding your potential customer base.

WooCommerce Google Shopping feed setup

You can collect the attributes and include them in an Excel spreadsheet file as column headers. Then, copy-paste your Woo product information underneath the attributes.

However, this manual process is prone to errors, and we strongly discourage this. The best way to generate a product feed for WooCommerce is to use a WooCommerce Google Shopping Product Feed plugin such as CTX Feed.

You can create a Google Shopping product feed with just 2 clicks using this plugin. CTX Feed has built-in templates for 130+ channels, including Google Shopping. You don’t need to learn any attributes or guidelines; the plugin comes integrated with all of them.

The plugin automatically collects your product information and generates the feed for you. Moreover, you can enable automatic updates and connect to Google Shopping through the feed URL.Let’s take a look at how you can generate a Google Shopping product feed in WooCommerce. Install the free version of the product feed plugin and activate it.

Click on CTX Feed and then Make Feed to get started.

Select the Google Shopping template from the channel dropdown.

Select a file type.

Your job is pretty much done by now. The plugin will generate the necessary attributes at the bottom automatically, and after you click the generate button, it will generate the feed that includes all your Woo product data.

Go to the Manage Feeds page to find your feed. Here, you can set the automatic update features and set update intervals, after which the plugin will automatically update all your feed files.

You can copy the feed URL from the feed settings.

The next step to display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping is to create a Google Merchant Center account.

Creating a Google Merchant Center account

Google Merchant Center is a free platform that allows businesses to manage their product listings on Google Shopping and other Google properties, such as Google Search and YouTube. You must upload your product feed to this platform in order to display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

If you are new to Google Merchant Center, then you need to register with your Gmail. GMC (Google Merchant Center) is a free platform and charges no fees for adding products.

In the first step, you must enter your Gmail and set a password. After that, you will see this screen where you need to input your country, time zone, and business name.

Next, select where you want your customers to checkout.

Google allows local stores who doesn’t have an eCommerce website to list and promote their products on Google Shopping. Google will redirect the user to that store’s location map. We also have mentioned that stores from the US can let their customers checkout directly on Google.

For your customers to land on your WooCommerce product pages, select the first option and proceed.

Select WooCommerce as your platform. And GMC will set up your account and email you for verification.

Steps to listing your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping

After that, you need to complete the following steps to list your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

Let’s start with the first step. Input your business details, such as address, location, phone number, etc.

Next, you need to verify your WooCommerce website with GMC. You can do this in two ways.

Add HTML tags: Although it may seem daunting at first, adding HTML tags to headers in popular eCommerce platforms is a breeze and doesn’t require editing any theme files. An app or plugin is also available for this purpose.

The Google Merchant Center has a Woo plugin specifically designed to validate WooCommerce stores.Uploading an HTML file: Using your web host’s Control Panel, you can upload an HTML file, which is the simpler of the two options.

After the verification process is complete, you will see the following screen.

After that, GMC will inquire about your shipping information and applicable taxes. The sixth stage is the meat of the procedure. It’s time to start uploading your feed.

Uploading your WooCommerce Products in Google Shopping

Click on the multiple option.

Check mark the free listing option.

Several methods exist for adding product listings to GMC. Scheduled Fetch is the top pick among these alternatives. Your product feed file can be stored on your server and linked to GMC via a URL using this method.

Copy and paste the product feed URL you created in your WooCommerce back panel. Also, set fetch frequency.

Here’s how it works-

Google Merchant Center (GMC) and the CTX Feed plugin work together to automate the process of updating your product listings on Google Shopping.

• GMC fetches your product data from a feed URL that you host on your WordPress site.
• If you make any changes to your Woo product pages, the plugin will automatically collect those changes and update the feed file.
• GMC then fetches the updated feed file at the frequency that you specify. This means that you don’t have to update your product listings on Google Shopping manually.
• The plugin also ensures that your product listings on Google Shopping are always accurate. It does this by validating your product data against Google’s requirements and flagging any errors. This helps to prevent your product listings from being rejected by Google.

As a result, using GMC and the feed plugin together is a great way to keep your product listings on Google Shopping up-to-date and accurate. This can help you to improve your visibility and performance on Google Shopping.You can also manually fetch your data by clicking the Fetch Now button.

Agree to Google’s terms and review and finish the process to start your Google Shopping product display.

Creating a Shopping Ad campaign

Unlike traditional text ads, you can’t create shopping ads manually. Google will generate them automatically from your product feed. For that, you need to connect your GMC account with your Google Ads account.You must use the same Gmail to log in to your Google Ads account. Go to Tools and Settings >> Linked Accounts after you login.

Search and find Google Merchant Center and link the account.

Now, go back to your dashboard and click the plus icon to start creating a shopping campaign.

Your objective should be Sales.

Shopping is your campaign type.

If your Google Merchant Center (GMC) account only contains a single product feed, Google will use that feed in your promotion. Otherwise, use the drop-down menu to choose the appropriate option.

Follow the on-screen instructions to finalize and launch your advertising campaign, including configuring your bid strategy, ad groups, and other options. Based on the information in your product feed, Google will generate product ads and place them next to relevant search results.

Make sure the feed you submit contains only accurate information about your products if you want Google to display them correctly. If you want to develop effective bid strategies for product ads, you’ll need to further categorize/subdivide your products into smaller groups.

Benefits of listing your WooCommerce Products in Google Shopping

Here are some of the benefits of listing your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping:

Increased visibility

Google Shopping is a popular destination for shoppers to find products online. By listing your products in Google Shopping, you can get your products in front of more potential customers who are already looking for what you sell.

Increased traffic

More visibility means more traffic to your WooCommerce store. This can lead to more sales and revenue for your business.

Improved conversion rates

A well-optimized Google Shopping feed can help you improve your conversion rates. This means that more people who see your products in Google Shopping will actually click through to your store and make a purchase.

Better insights

Google Merchant Center provides you with insights into how your products are performing in Google Shopping. This information can help you optimize your product listings and improve your sales.

Enhanced customer experience

Google Shopping allows shoppers to compare products from different retailers side-by-side. This can help customers make informed decisions about which product is right for them.

Brand awareness

Listing your products in Google Shopping can help to increase brand awareness for your business. This is because your products will be displayed alongside other popular brands, which can help to position your brand as a trusted and reputable source for products.

Improved SEO

Google Shopping listings can help improve your website’s SEO by increasing the number of backlinks to your site. Backlinks are links from other websites to your website, and they are a signal to Google that your website is a valuable source of information.

Increased brand trust

Google Shopping is a trusted platform, and by listing your products there, you can help to increase brand trust among potential customers.

Reach a global audience

Google Shopping is available in over 200 countries and territories, so you can reach a global audience with your products.

Get more exposure for your products

Google Shopping listings are often featured prominently in search results, so you can get more exposure for your products than you would with traditional SEO.

Easy to use

Google Shopping is pretty user-friendly. You don’t need to be a tech genius to get your products listed. It’s designed to be simple so you can focus on your products, not on figuring out how to use them.

FAQs

Are there any restrictions on the types of products I can promote on Google Shopping?

Yes, there are some restrictions on the types of products that you can promote on Google Shopping. These restrictions are in place to protect users and to ensure that Google Shopping is a safe and positive experience for everyone.

Some of the products that are not allowed on Google Shopping include:

• Products that are illegal or prohibited in certain countries.
• Products that are counterfeit or fraudulent.
• Products that are dangerous or hazardous.
• Products that are sexually suggestive or violent.
• Products that are discriminatory or offensive.
• Products that are not compliant with Google’s advertising policies.

Wrap up

Google Shopping is a great platform to increase your WooCommerce store’s visibility and reach. People who visit Google Shopping are actually looking to buy the products. Therefore, you are promoting your products to potential customers and have a great chance of conversion.

We hope this article will guide you to list and promote your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping and boost your sales.

Article contributed by:

Fadiyah Sameh is an eCommerce researcher and writer at WebAppick – a reputed WordPress plugin development company. As an eCommerce writer with a strong background in SEO, she has a passion for creating compelling and informative content that helps businesses reach their target audience. With a focus on crafting engaging, keyword-rich copy optimized for search engines, she has helped numerous companies increase their online visibility and drive traffic to their websites. In addition to her writing skills, she’s also well-versed in content marketing and the technical aspects of eCommerce and has a deep understanding of the various strategies and tactics used to optimize online stores for success.