Froogle is back – Google Shopping now free

At the end of April 2020, Google made a big announcement.

Google Shopping would soon be free. 

Yes, that’s right. Froogle is back. 

So what does Froogle being back mean?

Well it means that you can now add your products for free to the Google Shopping tab that appears in search results.

At the time of the announcement, Google said “Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google.”

Is Froogle global now?

It was first rolled out live across the US, and then by mid October 2020, Google announced it to be rolled out across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

What happens if you’re already paying for your products to appear in Google Shopping?

Never fear, because according to Google: “You don’t have to do anything to take advantage of free listings. For new users of Merchant Center, we’ll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months.”

If you already knew Merchant Center and Shopping, then you may already be eligible for Froogle if you’ve opted into the surfaces across Google program. If that’s the case, you don’t need to do anything else. 

But if you do want to opt in, here’s what you need to do:

• Click ‘Growth’
• Click ‘Manage programs’ from the left menu
• Choose ‘Surfaces across Google’ program card

If you’re brand new to Merchant Center and want to make the most of free Google Shopping, you can head over and sign up today. It doesn’t require Google Ads so you just need to opt in to the ‘Surfaces across Google’ program during the sign-up process and start curating your product feed from there.

To take a peek at what your free clicks have gotten you, there’s now a new performance report that you can view just by clicking ‘Performance’ and then ‘Dashboard’ from the left navigation.

So, will you be making the most of Froogle?

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