The New Google Merchant Center Next for Smarter Shopping Feeds

Google Merchant Center is now Google Merchant Center Next

Developments in ecommerce are increasingly shaped by Artificial Intelligence. Google now places great value in the individual presentation of products and launched Merchant Center Next at the end of July, 2024. It is a tool that spells significant changes for many online shops.

New Google accounts were already directly transferred to the new Merchant Center Next. Now, the migration of existing accounts to this new platform boasting with high-performance machine-learning algorithms to manage shopping feeds efficiently is also complete.

Google Merchant Center is a digital platform on which online retailers can upload their product data in order to sell them on Google Shopping and other services. Merchant Center Next is a simpler version of the platform to facilitate the process of getting started for smaller retailers. All functions on which the big online retailers rely are also still in place.

 

What’s New?

Direct Access to and Comparison of Product Information from Your Website

With Merchant Center Next, Google can directly retrieve product information from your website such as titles, prices, and images. Consequently, changes made on the product website will also be transferred over to the platform. Your reliance on a product data feed is hereby reduced, even though you still have the option of using it. What’s key here is that this increases the relevance of carefully managed product information and complete, well-structured data on product details pages so that you can guarantee that all data is always consistent and up to date.

 

More Efficient Product Data Management

The management of products is significantly facilitated since you can directly edit them in the Merchant Center. This way, errors in the feed or the structured data can be fixed quickly. Previously, you only had the option of uploading and deleting products.

 

Implementation of the Product Studio for More Appealing Product Images

Google has implemented Product Studio, providing you with a plethora of small AI tools. These tools can be used for improving the quality of existing product images, among other things. Currently, this function is only available in the US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan, and India. More regions are scheduled to follow.

 

Updates to Diagnostics and Analysis Functions

The analytics functions are still available but received a visual overhaul. The former “Diagnostics tab” has been removed and related diagnostics functions have been integrated in “Products,” now with focus on the current state of the products. As part of this, Google automatically prioritizes products which require the most attention.

 

New Metric Click Potential

The new metric, “click potential,” utilizes historical data to evaluate the probability of users clicking your product ads. This analysis compares your product’s performance with others in your account and supports you in optimizing less successful products so that you can improve your overall advertisement strategy.

 

Precise Product Information, Optimized Results: The Influence your PIM System has on Google Merchant Center Next

Product information is of significant importance concerning most of the new features. This means that the optimal use of Google Merchant Center Next hinges upon good management of your product information. A Product Information Management system (PIM) can play a central role here. Thanks to precise and continuously maintained product data, you can make sure that that everything is always up to date and of highest quality.

A PIM system enables you to manage and adjust all product information across all sales channels in a consistent manner. In particular, it is crucial that the data is personalized and adjusted to fit the needs of your target groups. This assures that Google has access to the best available information to meet the specific interests and requirements of your customers.

Through tailored and up-to-date product information provided by your PIM system, you boost your products’ visibility and relevance substantially. This, in turn, translates into addressing your target group more precisely, a higher click potential, and better conversions. With high-quality and target-group-oriented product information, your communication with your customer is always effective while your findability on Google as well as other search engines is greatly enhanced.