Google Shopping Links Are Now All Paid

Google is now charging merchants to list products in Google Shopping results.  Where previously, all that a merchant had to do to be listed was to provide a product feed, free of charge, they will now be charged on a pay-per-click basis.  Google has cited a need for better and more trustworthy product information as the reason for the change.  As a part of this transition, Google will also make available some additional tools for merchants to use to manage their product listing ad (PLA) campaigns.  Since completing the transition on October 17, Google says that they are listing more than a billion products from tens of thousands of merchants.


Google's intent for their product search is to reduce the number of steps that users take between searching and purchasing.  Doing so would improve the value of the search product for merchants, resulting in higher prices per click.  For Google Shopping to achieve this goal, they need to make sure that the search results that the service provides are accurate and useful - and I do agree that paid PLAs will be an effective way to ensure this.