Search Console includes shipping & returns for Merchant Listings

Google showing shipping and returns in search results as part of a Rich Result isn't new. I first spotted this search enhancement in February 2022.

Shoppers want to know the total expected price for the items they are purchasing. That's why Amazon did so well with free 2-day shipping for Prime members. Customers knew exactly what to expect for both the cost of shipping and the timeline.

Most merchants can't compete on 2-day shipping. Providing shipping costs, delivery times, and return windows can help set you above the competition.

Google is also providing you with more visibility on the shipping and returns requirements in Search Console. You'll start to see this show up as of April 17, 2023.

If you select one of the missing field issues, you'll see a callout from Google that says This is a non-critical issue. Items with these issues are valid, but could be presented with more features or be optimized for more relevant queries

As stated in the message, these are non-critical issues. It's their way of asking for the information if you can provide it. If not, that's ok too.

JSON-LD for SEO customers have been seeing the shipping and returns information show up without any effort on their part.

That's because we include the unique product identifiers you've entered into Shopify in the structured data. This allows Merchant Center to read the shipping and returns details shared by Shopify and sync it with the structured data we provided.

JSON-LD for SEO customers who see the non-critical issues in Search Console and have already setup the shipping and return information in Merchant Center can ignore those warnings. Those who have the shipping and returns information included in their plan can also add it through the app to make the non-critical issues go away.

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.

Merchant Center will automatically pull the shipping and returns information directly from Shopify. If you're seeing the shipping or returns Rich Result and the data is incorrect, check your Merchant Center settings.

When the structured data connects to Merchant Center, you automatically become eligible for the shipping and return Rich Results even if the data doesn't show up in the structured data.

If you want to include the shipping and returns information in the structured data, contact Shopify or your shipping app to provide the data in liquid or using metafields. We'd be happy to integrate with them if they make the data available.