Coming to a Paid Google Shopping Search Tool Near You

Google shopping, Google Fashion Priština—tm-tm (Flickr.com)

If you have not heard about this yet, Google has decided to roll out a paid model for all merchants. If a merchant would like to be included in its search results, it will need to pay.

How much will it cost? That is yet to be seen. This new model will encourage those that are serious about their business and would like to keep their product information fresh and up today. Yet experts in the industry are stating Google main motive is too increase ad revenue by doing away with the ability for businesses to drive traffic to company sites for free. For the past eight years Google has been resistant in not charging for paid inclusions seeing it as something to avoid at all costs. Yet with the industry changing at such a rapid pace, the paid model is now seen as an effective way to ensure relevant product services and content, as well as a way to generate income.

The new model will be in place as early as the fall of this year.

New Search Tool – Google Shopping

“Having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date,” Samat wrote. “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.”

Google, under Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, is seeking to increase ad revenue by doing away with a service that now drives traffic to a company website for free. Retailers spent $7.1 billion on online ads last year, more than any other industry, an increase of 29.1 percent from 2010, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The move marks a shift for a company that once eschewed requiring payment for inclusion in search, said Danny Sullivan, a Web-search analyst.

Sellers currently upload products for free through the Google Merchant Center, and hope that users find them on Google Product Search. With Google Shopping, store rankings will be based on a combination of relevance and bid price, Google said, rather than simply by popularity and selling price.

The new Google Shopping will debut this fall — at google.com/ads/shopping — with higher quality data and better shopping results for users, Samat said.

Go here to read the complete article: PC Magazine

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