le makes shopping online safe //
It is essential for SEO professionals and advertisers to understand that customers’ safety has become a top priority on e-commerce platforms. Google has three solutions to ensure customers can shop safely online and that merchants meet these standards.
- Automated vetting of stores
- Badges for stores
- Review of automated and manual merchants and listings
Automated vetting of product merchants. To be eligible to list a product or merchant on Google, they must pass a rigorous safety review. The Shopping Graph is a large database of sellers and products that allows the system to quickly assess the legitimacy of a company, verify that product information is correct, and check that content conforms with Google policies.
These policies apply to all products that appear in shopping results, even those obtained via web crawling. These policies will ensure that Google displays only high-quality products. You won’t find items that are violent weapons, merchants who misrepresent their businesses, or that contain hateful content.
Google blocked over 100 million product ads from being displayed in January and rejected almost 300,000 accounts due to quality issues or policy violations.
Store badges. Google gives store badges to businesses who provide positive shopping experiences. Stores that meet the criteria for quick shipping, easy returns, and high user ratings are eligible to receive badges.
Google also provides ratings for products and sellers. This allows you to compare your experience with these products and businesses. The product listings also link to the merchant’s site, giving you the chance to do further research on the store and its policies. This allows you to make informed purchases and gives you confidence when shopping.
Human and automated reviews for merchants and listings.
“Our automated systems monitor for violations activity and our human reviewers are available to review any issues that may require a more nuanced view.”
After merchants are onboarded, Google will monitor listings to make sure that there have not been any suspicious or problem listing changes since they were added to Google. Google will periodically check that merchants still meet country-specific requirements when they are onboarded.
Google can also take a variety of actions when they notice suspicious behavior. These include removing listings that are in violation of policies and banning merchants from listing on Google.
Why do we care? Advertisers’ ability to reach potential customers via Google’s search results and advertising platforms can be directly affected.
Customers feel more comfortable shopping on Google and are more likely make purchases and to interact with merchants and the products they advertise. This trust can be used by SEOs and advertisers to ensure that their product listings and advertising meet Google’s requirements. They can earn store badges by adhering to these standards. This will increase their visibility and help them attract new customers.
Advertisers and SEOs can comply with Google’s policies to avoid having their listings or products removed from the platform. This could negatively impact their ability to reach customers as well as their business goals. It is important for SEOs and advertisers to keep up to date with Google’s policies, and ensure that their listings and advertising adhere to them.
The post 3 Google ways to ensure safe online shopping was first published on Search Engine Land.