The free local listings add-on allows you to showcase your products and shop information for nearby shoppers searching with Google.
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Before you begin
Free listings are organic product listings on surfaces like Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, the Shopping tab, Google Images and Google Lens.
Free local listings are organic product listings on local surfaces across Google Search, Maps, the 'Products' tab and on the Google Business Profile. For example, See what's in store allows customers to find which products are available at your shops when looking at a specific shop location and when searching for a product, and it will let them know if you have the item that they're searching for in stock.
When you provide local inventory data to Google, you have the choice of running local inventory ads (paid), free local listings (free) or both. We recommend running both features in tandem to maximise the benefit of free and paid local surfaces.
Displaying in-store products can help drive high click-through rates due to the high local intent nature of the search queries, such as 'Where can I find product X near me?' or when a customer is close to the shop and searching on their mobile to look for products nearby.
If you're already serving local inventory ads, all you have to do is enable free local product listings in your Merchant Center account.
Benefits of free local listings
Enabling free local listings improves your products' visibility across different Google platforms. Here are the key benefits that you can get from using the feature:
- Increased product awareness: Free local listings drive more organic visibility, clicks and awareness of local product availability.
- Access to free surfaces: Free local listings allow you to access multiple free surfaces like Google Search, Maps, the 'Products' tab and the 'See what's in store' unit.
- Browsable inventory: With free local listings, the 'See what's in store' unit is shown to customers when they search for the name of a shop in Google or Google Maps. This feature makes your shop's inventory browsable directly from the Google Business Profile. This is an opportunity to offer an immersive experience and answer customer questions regarding in-stock products directly from your Google Business Profile.
- Organic impressions and clicks: Having local inventory connected to Google can promote an increase in organic impressions and organic clicks.
Frequently asked questions
Can I activate both free listings and free local listings in all my Merchant Center accounts, even through different CSSs?
- Using the same Merchant Center account: If you're already using a Merchant Center account for free listings, paid campaigns and local inventory data, you can activate free local listings from this account through a CSS provider of your choice.
- Using a different Merchant Center account: If you're using a different Merchant Center account for local listings, you'll need to transfer your local inventory data to that account before activating free listings through a CSS provider of your choice.
How do I check if the free local listings programme is already active in my Merchant Center account?
- In your Merchant Center account, go to the Growth tab.
- Select Manage programmes.
- Find the 'Free local product listings' card and check if it's enabled.
In Merchant Center Next:
- In your Merchant Center account, click the Setting and tools icon.
- Select Add-ons.
- Click the 'Your add-ons' tab.
- Select the Free local listings add-on card under the 'Discover' tab to check if it's enabled.