Google shares six SEO suggestions that mix structured information and Merchant Center to get essentially the most out of your web site’s presence in search outcomes.
Alan Kent, a Developer Advocate at Google, describes every tip intimately in a brand new video printed on the Google Search Central YouTube channel.
(*6*) the video, Kent emphasizes utilizing Google Merchant Center as a result of it permits retailers to add product information by way of structured feeds.
Merchant Center feeds are designed to be learn by computer systems, which implies information is extracted extra reliably than Googlebot crawling your web site.
However, that doesn’t imply it is best to forego utilizing structured information on product pages and depend on Merchant Center alone. Product structured information stays important even in case you present product information on to Google with a Merchant Center feed.
Google could crosscheck information from the Merchant Center feed in opposition to structured information in your web site.
Google’s SEO suggestions for ecommerce websites revolve round getting essentially the most out of each instruments.
1. Ensure Products Are Indexed
Googlebot can miss pages when crawling a web site in the event that they’re not linked to different pages. On ecommerce websites, for instance, some product pages are solely reachable from on-site search outcomes.
You can guarantee Google crawls all of your product pages by using instruments akin to an XML sitemap and Google Merchant Center.
Creating a Merchant Center product feed will assist Google uncover all of the merchandise in your web site. The product web page URLs are shared with the Googlebot crawler to make use of as beginning factors for crawls of further pages probably.
2. Check Accuracy Of Product Prices Search Results
If Google incorrectly extracts pricing information out of your product pages, it could listing your authentic value in search outcomes, not the discounted value.
To precisely present product data akin to listing value, reductions, and internet value, it’s really helpful so as to add structured information to your product pages and supply Google Merchant Center with structured feeds of your product information.
This will assist Google extract the right value from product pages.
3. Minimize Price & Availability Lag
Google crawls webpages in your web site in keeping with its personal schedule. That means Googlebot could not discover modifications in your web site till the following crawl.
These delays can result in search outcomes lagging behind web site modifications, akin to a product going out of inventory.
It could be greatest in case you aimed to attenuate inconsistencies in pricing and availability information between your web site and Google’s understanding of your web site on account of timing lags.
Google recommends using Merchant Center product feeds to maintain pages up to date on a extra constant schedule.
4. Ensure Products Are Eligible For Rich Product Results
Eligibility for wealthy product outcomes requires using product structured information.
To get the particular wealthy product presentation format, Google recommends offering structured information in your product pages and a product feed in Merchant Center.
This will assist make sure that Google understands easy methods to extract product information to show wealthy outcomes.
However, even with the right structured information in place, wealthy outcomes are displayed at Google’s discretion.
5. Share Local Product Inventory Data
Ensure your in-store merchandise are discovered by individuals coming into queries with the phrase “close to me.”
First, register your bodily retailer location in your Google Business Profile, then present an area stock feed to Merchant Center.
The native stock feed consists of product identifiers and retailer codes, so Google is aware of the place your stock is bodily positioned.
As an extra step, Google recommends utilizing a device known as Pointy. Pointy is a tool from Google that connects to your in-store point-of-sale system and routinely informs Google of stock information out of your bodily retailer.
The information is used to maintain search outcomes up to date.
6. Sign Up For Google Shopping Tab
You could discover your merchandise can be found in search outcomes however don’t seem within the Shopping tab.
If you’re not sure whether or not your merchandise are surfacing within the Shopping tab, the best strategy to discover out is to seek for them.
Structured information and product feeds alone aren’t adequate to be included within the Shopping tab.
To be eligible for the Shopping tab, present product information feeds by way of Merchant Center and opt-in to ‘surfaces throughout Google.’
For extra on any of the above suggestions, see the complete video from Google beneath:
Featured Image: Screenshot from YouTube.com/GoogleSearchSC, August 2022.
