In April 2019, Google Shopping clients were notified of shipping requirement changes for sellers in certain countries. As of July 31st, 2019 the countries listed in this blog post require shipping rates to be provided for their products in Google Shopping. Any missing shipping information will generate errors in Google Merchant Center (GMC) and won’t be eligible to appear in ads.
Find out which countries are affected, why Google made this update and what you can do as a seller to comply with the new rules.
Google Shopping Ads Shipping Changes: Countries Affected
Google Shopping sellers from the following countries are required to provide shipping rates for their products or they won’t be eligible to appear on the platform as of July 31st, 2019.
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Ireland
- Poland
Google Shopping Ads Shipping Changes: Why the Change?
Why did Google Merchant Centre decide to make shipping rates mandatory for the affected countries?
Google stated in its communication with Google Shopping clients:
“When trying to find the best deal online, users prefer to know the full cost of an item, including the cost of shipping. Many abandon purchases at the checkout once they discover that they will be charged an additional shipping fee. We require shipping rates for all products so that we can display the full cost of products on Shopping ads.”
Highstreet.io’s opinion is that Google is looking at the entire user experience. Google wants to provide the best experience for their audience so they will keep clicking on their ads. The easier it is for people to shop on their platform, the more they will click on the ads. The ROI increases for both Google and the seller.
Google Shopping Ads Shipping Changes: How to Comply
Here are a few tips we pulled from Google’s announcement to get started complying with the new rules.
1. To be proactive before the deadline of July 31st, 2019, go to the Diagnostics page of your GMC account to review which products are impacted.
2. Once you have an idea of your current status, go to the Shipping page in your GMC account to add the information for every product.
The other option is to add the shipping data through your feed. You can add it at the item level by using the ‘shipping’ attribute in your feed.
Get more details about Google Shopping account-level shipping and item-level shipping.
Google Shopping Feed Tips You Don't Want To Miss
Avoid getting your campaigns disapproved in the first place and achieve the best performance for your ads by reading our Google Shopping Feed Optimization Guide.
- Your product listings will show up higher in search results
- Your customers will spend less per click and less per sale
- Your will win greater trust, credibility, and referrals
Next Step
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