Google Product Search drives a lot of traffic to online listings, but starting in October, that traffic will cost sellers, as the program moves to a “commercial model.”
Sameer Samat, vice president of Product Management at Google Shopping, announced Thursday that Google will retire its free Product Search service. Millions of people use this service to get their product listings in Google search results.
In its place, Google will debut Google Shopping, a service that will be based on Product Listing Ads. These are AdWords ads that “include product-rich information such as product image, price and merchant name,” according to Google.
Once changes take effect, merchants will bid for placement of their products on Google and Google Shopping boxes, which will appear near the top of search results, as shown in a snapshot Google shared. Merchants will pay based on the number of clicks their ads get, or on a cost-per-acquisition basis, Google explains. Rankings in Google Shopping will depend on relevance of search terms and bid price.
Sellers may see sales ‘disappear unless they decide to pay’
In a blog announcing the change, Samat writes that the move to a paid model for users in the U.S. will benefit both buyers and sellers.
“We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date,” he notes. “Higher quality data, whether it’s accurate prices, the latest offers or product availability, should mean better shopping results for users, which, in turn, should create higher quality traffic for merchants.”
However, the change could affect Amazon and eBay listings since the sites—or its sellers—may now have to pay to have items included in Google Shopping, according to Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor.
Wingo notes that Google Product Search drives a lot of traffic to both sites and that, overall, the service results in $650 million in annual sales in the U.S., and more than $1 billion around the world. Now sellers may see sales “disappear unless they decide to pay,” he tells Reuters.
Meanwhile, eBay’s head of Internet marketing, Robert Chatwani, said:
“We are evaluating the impact of today’s announcement, but we also plan to fully participate in the new Google Shopping offering, and continue to harness the power of Google’s ad offerings on behalf of our sellers and merchants.”
Independent merchants who submit free Google product feeds to bring traffic to their websites will also be affected.
“I feel in panic mode,” says Auctiva Commerce merchant Carolinabluelady, in a community forum post. “I certainly can’t afford to advertise like the ‘big’ guys.”
Google is offering incentives for merchants to transition to Google Shopping. Sellers who create Product Listing Ads by Aug. 15 will get a monthly 10-percent credit for what they spend on Product Listing Ads for the rest of the year, Samat notes in his post.
He adds that sellers using Google Product Search can also get a $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they create them by Aug. 15.
