Google has released a new video with six tips on how to make ecommerce websites stand out in search results.
The video began by highlighting three key elements that help ecommerce product pages stand out:
- Images help website visitors understand products
- Star ratings increase trust
- Pricing and availability help buyers choose between sellers
Some of these elements depend on structured product data to qualify for advanced listings, while others require participation in Google’s Merchant Center feed.
1. Title Tags
Kent discusses title links, the links that appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) that are generated from webpage title tags. He explains that if the title element doesn’t adequately describe what the webpage is about, Google will rewrite it, using content from the headline at the top of the page or even the anchor text of links to the webpage.
He also advises taking extra care with automated product title tags to ensure there is no duplicate content or missing information . Alan warns against using dynamically generated title tags to add availability or price data to the title tag, as there is a lag between when the title tag is updated and when Google displays the updated title link in the SERPs. At this point the information may be out of date.He recommends using a Google Site: Search to verify what the title tags might look like when displayed in the search results.
2. Add high quality images
Quality images are an aspect of user experience as they help potential customers make a decision about a product in Google Search Result.
Alan Kent shared:
He recommends checking the site for low quality images and replacing them with higher quality photos.Kent also advised checking the Max Image Preview metadata as it helps Google display these images in the SERPs.Finally, he recommends using Structured Product Data to help Google identify the right images to show in Google Search Result.
Many businesses look at things like images in relation to how they can help their website rank higher in search results.But it’s more productive to look at product images in terms of how they help users make a decision about a product.This means that when it comes to the question of the size of the product, it can make sense to compare the product with an everyday object of about the same size.
Different angles can be helpful, as can showing how clothes look on a model, how furniture looks in a room, or how a fence might look attractive in a garden.
3. Share rich product data
Structured data helps Google better understand webpages and make them eligible to be displayed as rich results, which it calls “special presentation treatments” in search results.
The following are essential elements that Structured Product Data must contain:
- product name
- description
- pictures
- reviews
- Price
- Availability
Check out Google’s Structured Data for Products guidelines to see which properties are required and which are optional. Structured data guidelines are constantly changing, which can cause a product page to lose its enhanced listing in search results if the structured data no longer meets Google’s requirements.
To troubleshoot, use the Search Console URL Indexing tool to verify that the page is indexed, and then use the Rich Results Testing tool to determine if there are any structured data errors.
4. Stock price fall data
By sharing pricing information with Google, the product page can be eligible for a special discount presentation in search results, which can draw attention to it.
Appearance in search results with a special price reduction presentation is not guaranteed.
To qualify a page for discounted rich results, you must include the Offer property in the product structured data, which represents a specific price point and not a price range.
5. Identify products you sell
This tip recommends using accurate product identifiers such as GTIN identifiers using a combination of Google Merchant Center feed and structured product data. Following this advice can make a product eligible for listings like the product carousels.
6. Create a business profile
Finally, Kent recommends creating a Google Business Profile if the business has a physical presence.This type of listing is only available to businesses with a physical store or covered service area.
