Mild-mannered designer by day…
I don’t actually think I’m a superhero. I mean, many people have this notion that superheroes have genetic mutations and have superpowers. Neither of which I have. Unless you count being a triplet as a genetic mutation 😉
New Google Sales Channel settings for shipping sync in Shopify
Since early 2022, Google has been showing the delivery and returns details directly in search results.
JSON-LD for SEO customers already have the shipping and returns information coming from Merchant Center assuming you have:
- entered the unique product identifiers (GTIN or MPN) and
- you have the policies set up in Merchant Center and/or configured in the Google app.
Google will automatically pull the shipping and returns information from Merchant Center. They do this by connecting the structured data with your product feeds via the product identifiers. From there, they'll be able to include the shipping and returns information in Rich Results.
In April 2023, Google began to ask you to provide the data if you can via Search Console. Note: These are not required fields. You can still qualify for other product Rich Results without adding the information.
Search Console however doesn't talk to Merchant Center so you end up receiving emails saying the fields are missing.
Delivery and shipping information
Google's Shopify app now provides some options on how to manage shipping settings.
From the Google & Youtube app in Shopify:
- Select Settings
- Scroll down to Your product feed settings
- On the line for Shipping settings select Manage
- Select the method you want Google to pull your shipping settings
As you follow the steps above to access the settings, you'll see two options.
Automatically import shipping information
The first option to automatically import shipping settings will pull your shipping configurations from Shopify.
If your shipping is complex or you're using a third-party tool, this default setting may not be the best option.
This setting is more or less the same thing as pulling it from Merchant Center, you just don't have to do the data entry again.
Manually set up shipping information in Google Merchant Center
This second option to pull directly from Merchant Center will ignore your configurations in Shopify and use whatever is setup in Merchant Center.
You can configure the delivery information in Merchant Center using this doc.
Returns information
There is currently no information in the Google Sales Channel app on how to configure your returns policy.
I think Merchant Center will attempt to automatically figure out what your policy is during their analysis of your website. But that's not something I'd want to leave up to a bot to figure out.
Your best course of action is to configure your returns policies directly in Merchant Center using this doc.
If you're not a JSON-LD for SEO customer and want to be eligible for the shipping and returns Rich Result, contact me for your free structured data audit or install JSON-LD for SEO to get started.
JSON-LD for SEO
Get more organic search traffic from Google without having to fight for better rankings by utilizing search enhancements called Rich Results.
Linking Llama
Link discontinued products to their best substitute. Keep discontinued products published on your website and continue to benefit from traffic to these pages.