Part I – Shopping Feed optimization: 5 Powerful tips for Holiday season 2021!

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Is your BigCommerce Google Shopping feed ready for the busiest retailer quarter of the year? No? Then NOW is the time to refine your strategies. With the spookiness-creepiness of Halloween already in the air. And the most significant festive months of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas are fast approaching; you have to put effective shopping feed optimization strategies in place that boosts product visibility on SERP and results in more clicks and conversions.

How get your Shopping feed ready for the most significant retail season?

A well-optimized shopping feed is the foundation of success when selling on Google, especially during the festive rush. So, while optimizing product feed details, always ensure to include all the essential information. To do so, take quick research in the search queries for inspiration, look at the terms that drove sales in the last holiday season and the terms that are driving sales currently.

BigCommerce merchants connected their store with Google platforms using CedCommerce’s Google Shopping & Ads can optimize their shopping feeds from the app itself. Also, Google experts at CedCommerce are always there to update you with the latest changes taking place in real-time.

Now coming back to Shopping feed optimization techniques, there are many ways to improve the quality of the product feed. In this article, we’ll help learn how to revamp basic information of the product feed in order to make them festive-ready.

Shopping Feed Optimization – 5 Best practices

• Structure product title well
• Optimize product description
• Using quality images is important
• Get the product links right
• Get granular with Product Segmentation

Let’s take a look at each point one by one!

Structure product title well

Having the right, relevant information in the title can give the audience a sharp, clear picture of what they are browsing at a glance, much faster than reading description details.

Moreover, Google uses product titles to match products with a user’s search intent. And that’s why it is important for your product title to be as detailed as possible for your customers.

The basic title structure is – {Brand} + {Product} + {Attribute}/{Variants}
(Note – Attributes can vary by categories such as size, color, etc.)

With the max 150 characters limit given in the Google Shopping feed specification list for the product title, always make sure to include as much information as possible within the given limit. Exceeding the limit will truncate your title and will make it look unprofessional.

Learn more about Google Shopping feed specifications and their importance.

With your title, tell your audience the basic information (The What) of your product in the simplest yet innovative way.

What to include-

• Brand name: a brand name to product titles as it distinguishes brand-specific products from others on the keyword listing.
• Variants for generic items: For generic items without high-brand value adding a brand name might not be helpful. Instead. Use product Google Shopping feed variants like color, size, etc. For example- If you sell items that target an audience looking for a specific size such as free-size raincoats, then make sure you fill out the size type column in your title.
• Add quantity (if needed): Include key information like the quantity of the product to help shoppers understand how much of an item they are buying. For example – You’ve added a $10 amount in the product feed for “Greeting Cards”. Now that is too much for any greeting card to cost. Now, to clear the shopper’s confusion you simply need to add quantity and your title will appear like – “10 Greeting Cards” for the amount of $10.

What to avoid –

• ALL CAPS: resist the urge of grabbing attention with a title in ALL CAPS
• Avoid promos: Don’t add promos such as BOGO or limited offers, there is a separate section for such promotional activities.
• Price: Don’t include product price in the title, you already have a dedicated price attribute for that.
• Avoid special characters: Don’t include symbols and punctuation that create emojis as these will make your title look like spam.

Optimize product description

For optimizing product feed descriptions, merchants need to implement a similar principle; but, you also need to focus on relevant keywords. Write a detailed product description that will help the audience to visualize themselves using it. Try including as many relevant keywords and product-specific details as possible within the given character limit. The Google Shopping feed specification for product description is 500 characters.

Pro tip – For branded products, try highlighting as many essential features as possible in bullet points to make it easy for the audience to get a gist of the product at a glance.

For Holiday feed optimization of the product description, consider including Holiday related keywords, top features and incorporate seasonal or gift terminology, like “Gifts for Her” to make your products stand out from the rest.

Using quality images is important.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”

Product images essentially act as a proxy for the merchants as they communicate the level of professionalism of the brand. Poor pictures relay a message of carelessness, whereas a quality image portrays an image of a professional seller. So, always ensure to select the high-resolution and lifestyle photography pictures that display your product better.

And while showing off your BigCommerce store products on Google, do consider the following image optimization tactics-

• HD quality image: Utilize stunning quality photos with a festive theme especially if the product falls under the clothing or gifting items category.
• Dynamic Views: Use a more in-depth, interactive view of the product from different angles. Demonstrate your product images with a festive vibe or theme, so it gives your audience a clear view of why your product is ideal to buy this festive season. Pro tips – for clothing, opt for Zoom feature or 360-degree rotation feature.
  Use product variants images (If needed), this will give your choice to select from multiple options.
• No Text, No Logo: Don’t add any kind of text or logo to your product image.

Get the product links right

When talking about link optimization, ensure that all your Google Shopping feed variants have a specific landing page; if not, then confirm to interlink the same variant products. It will avoid the disappointment of your potential customers and serve the search for product variants with different attributes.

For example – A product like a Green Nike t-shirt can be linked to a landing page with a red Nike t-shirt. And you can do the same for a Red Nike t-shirt.

Also read – Holiday Shopping feed Best Practices!

Get granular with Product Segmentation

Consider historical data such as Holiday top sellers or best-selling seasonal products and so on, and segregate all your products accordingly. Segregate your inventory top-selling brand-wise, specific category-wise, geographically, and so on.

Understand the type of holiday you are focusing on, the audience and region you are targeting, and why. Self-answer all these questions first and then segregate your inventory accordingly. Align product types with the related product categories to make your shopping feed easy to manage.

Summing Up

Remember your Google Shopping retail journey is a marathon and not a sprint. And along the way, you need to keep revamping your strategies according to the requirements, opportunities, and of course obstacles coming your way.

Opting for these Holiday feed optimization techniques, your products are sure to shine their brightest this festive season. The 2021 Q4 holiday season, definitely holds a huge opportunity for your BigCommerce store to increase in sales, but when done right with expert guidance, your hassle is definitely eliminated.

And for effortless, Shopping feed optimization and automation, CedCommerce’s Google experts are just a call away.