Google Updates Merchant Listing Data for E-commerce SEO

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google updated its Merchant Listing structured data on Thursday, introducing a new Category property and clarifying sale duration specifications to improve product accuracy and search engine optimization (SEO) for e-commerce merchants.

The changes aim to provide more granular product classification and ensure that promotional pricing is displayed correctly, preventing outdated deals from appearing in search results, according to Google.

A significant addition is the new ‘Category’ property within Product structured data, which allows merchants to classify their products using plain text or by referencing CategoryCode objects.

The CategoryCode object enables direct declaration of Google Product Categories (GPC) in the markup, linking a web page’s structured data to Google’s extensive product taxonomy, according to documentation from Schema.org, which Google utilizes.

Google also released new documentation for the ‘priceValidUntil’, ‘validFrom’, and ‘validThrough’ properties, which are used to specify the start and end dates of sale prices.

The new ‘Sale duration’ section details how to implement these properties using the ISO 8601 date format on either the Offer node or a PriceSpecification node.

This clarification is intended to ensure that sale prices are displayed accurately in search results, preventing the promotion of expired offers.

These updates are expected to enhance the accuracy of product listings across Google’s search ecosystem, which could lead to improved visibility and performance for online retailers.

Merchants are encouraged to review the updated guidelines to implement the new structured data properties effectively and leverage the SEO benefits.

Source: Search Engine Journal