Google Merchant Center tips: Supplemental feeds and feed rules [Video]

Maximize your visibility in Google Shopping by using these two tools to augment and optimize your product feeds.

The closure of non-essential businesses has driven consumers online for their retail needs, resulting in Black Friday-levels of traffic as well as double and triple-digit sales growth in April in some sectors. During that same month, Google opened up its Shopping search results to free listing after eight years as an ads-only product, giving merchants one more organic avenue to reach consumers.

For e-commerce businesses, the stage is set to increase sales, if they can get their product listings in front of consumers. During our Google Shopping session of Live with Search Engine Land, Kirk Williams, owner of ZATO Marketing, shared a few ways to increase your products’ visibility on the platform.

Related: FAQ: All about Google Shopping’s free and paid product listings

Williams recommended that marketers focus on optimizing product titles, in particular. Feed rules can be used for product title optimizations, such as adjusting the placement of the product’s name or its brand. Product descriptions are another area worth experimenting with, Williams also said.

“I think supplemental feeds . . . [are a] really handy way to get in promotion IDs,” said Williams. Supplemental feeds give merchants the ability to layer additional information, such as custom labels or seasonal promotions, on top of their existing product feeds. In situations where merchants can’t easily update their primary feeds, supplementary feeds also provide merchants with more flexibility to make adjustments.

Google highlights sales and prices drops in numerous sections of its Shopping results. Indicating sale pricing through your primary or supplementary feed in Merchant Center can help draw customers’ attention to your on-sale items.

Why we care. Although businesses in some states are reopening, consumers are reemerging from the pandemic at different rates and new shopping behavior formed during this period may be here to stay. Optimizing your product listings can help increase your products’ visibility and enable your business to compete with other merchants as consumers continue to go online for their retail needs.