Google provides a list of six methods for integrating structured data and Google Merchant Center to improve the search results for your e-commerce website.
To optimize the visibility of your website in search results, Google offers six SEO methods that integrate structured data and Merchant Center.
Developer Advocate Alan Kent outlines each suggestion in great detail in a recent video that was uploaded to the Google Search Central YouTube channel.
Alan Kent emphasizes using Google Merchant Center throughout the lecture since it allows retailers to add product data via structured feeds. Because Merchant Center feeds are computer-readable, data is collected from them more reliably than when Googlebot scans your website.
That does not imply that you should abandon the use of structured data on product pages in favor of relying solely on Google Merchant Center. Even if you supply product data directly to Google via a Merchant Center feed, product structured data is still required.
Google may compare structured data on your website with data from the Merchant Center feed.
The focus of Google’s SEO advice for e-commerce sites is on maximizing the potential of both tools.
Any e-commerce website’s success and survival depend on search engine optimization (SEO). Since they can’t discover you, customers can’t make purchases from you online!
You must optimize your website to rank high in search engines for the keywords you wish to target.
1. Make Sure Products Are Indexed
When crawling a website, Googlebot may overlook pages that aren’t linked to other pages. For example, specific product pages on e-commerce websites can only be viewed through on-site search results.
Your product pages will all be scanned by Google if you use technologies like an XML sitemap and Google Merchant Center. If you build a Merchant Center product feed, Google will be able to find all of the products on your website.
The Googlebot crawler is sent to the URLs of the product pages so that it can utilize them as a possible starting point for crawling more pages.
2. Verify The Reliability Of Product Price Search Results
If Google incorrectly takes pricing data from your product pages, your original price may be shown in search results rather than the discounted price.
To correctly convey product information such as list price, discounts, and net pricing, it is advised to give structured data to your product sites and provide Google Merchant Center with structured feeds of your product data. This will help Google determine the appropriate pricing from product pages.
3. Reduce Price and Availability Lag
Your website’s pages are indexed by Google based on their schedule. As a result, Googlebot may not notice modifications to your website until the next crawl.
These delays could prevent search results from updating as soon as site modifications, such as when a product runs out of stock.
The greatest course of action would be to make an effort to lessen pricing and availability information disparities that exist between your website and Google’s perception of your site as a result of time delays. Google suggests using the Merchant Center product feeds to update websites more frequently.
4. Ensure That Your Products Are Eligible for Rich Product Results.
Product structured data must be used to qualify for rich product results.
Google suggests including structured data on your product pages and a product feed in Merchant Center to obtain the unique rich product presentation format.
This ensures that Google will be able to extract product data and provide rich results. Even when the appropriate structured data is present, rich results are only displayed when Google considers it appropriate.
5. Transmit Data on Local Product Inventory
Make sure customers can locate the things you have in stock when they use the “near me” search term. The first step is to include the physical address of your company in your Google Business Profile. The second is to provide local inventory data to the Merchant Center.
The product identifiers and shop codes present in the local inventory feed allow Google to identify the precise location of your products.
Google advises taking an additional step by utilizing a program named Pointy. Pointy is a Google device that syncs with your POS system in-store and automatically refreshes with inventory information from your physical shop.
The information is utilized to update search results.
6. Register With Google Shopping Tab
Your products can be listed in the search results but not on the Shopping tab.
You may easily determine whether your products are appearing in the Shopping tab by searching for them. To be eligible for the Shopping tab, you must have more than just structured data and product feeds.
To qualify for the Shopping tab, provide product data feeds through Merchant Center and select receive “surfaces throughout Google.
FOR MORE TIPS WATCH THE FULL VIDEO FROM GOOGLE
Faisal Rafeeq is an SEO, PPC, and Digital Marketing expert. Faisal has worked on multiple e-commerce and web development projects, creating tailored and result oriented solutions. Some of the recent projects include ERPCorp, Wheelrack , TN Nursery, PROSGlobalinc, Patient9, and many more