See What’s In Store
Customers can now have the option to buy and pick up in store. Your products will feature real-time availability and locations nearby. If they are searching near your location, Google Maps will give them all the contact information of your store and an approximate distance from their location to you.
Your customers will know exactly whether certain products are available in store right from your Google My Business profile. They won’t have to leave Google to browse through dozens of your stock.
Local inventory ads appear at the top of the search results page just under the search bar. When users enter a specific search term related to your products, they can see right away which local businesses have the product available.
Your products are also eligible to show up in unpaid listings on surfaces across Google such as Shopping Tab, and Google Photos. Before, paid products on Google limited the amount of selection to directly purchase, and in turn drove customers away to buy from sites with more variety, such as Amazon. With Google shopping ads, the rank is determined by feed quality and bid value. Since your local inventory listing will be unpaid, Local View works hard to provide an exceptional feed that will be sure to boost your ratings.
Because your GMB account is linked to your Merchant Center, your complete store information is also shown when your potential customers click on your ad. Without navigating away from Google, users can view product and business description, link to your website, hours, phone number and navigation to your store all at once.
Your products are able to run on both regular product listing ads and Local Inventory Ads at the same time to increase your online exposure. You have the option to list a selected number of products for local inventory and the rest for your ecommerce website. Your product listing ads bring traffic to your site while local inventory ads can increase in-store sales.
Even small businesses can benefit from Local View’s local inventory. Turn your online local traffic into real time customers! With up-to-date stock and contact information ready to go, your inventory sits on a level playing field with advertisers paying way more for their spot alongside you. Set up with Local View is easy, and will increase foot traffic and clicks just as much as big name brands and e-commerce stores.
If a customer is generally searching for a product, they might also search directly through Google Images to find what they’re looking for. In this case, your product will be displayed and labeled with a “Product” annotation that enables them to make a purchase directly. These listings will include brand, availability, price and ratings.
Generally, Google puts out Product Listing Ads (PLA’s) as advertising for businesses, putting their inventory as the top result, which is the most convenient for shoppers when looking on Google for that kind of product. Local Inventory, on the other hand, allows your products to not only appear when customers organically search for the product, but includes “in-store availability” features that connect your business to customers when they are near your location. PLA’s include the basics, such as the product image, title, ratings, brand and price, but in addition to that, Local Inventory showcases all options available at your store – online and brick-and-mortar.
When a customer searches up the product, they will see an “In store” annotation on the bottom of the listing from any Google Maps, Google Images, Google Shopping, Google My Business and regular Google search result. If they are interested in seeing the product in person, they can click the hyperlink that will take them to the “Local Storefront” page, featuring content specific to the retailer the product is from. There’s options to see the retailer’s contact information, another location they prefer, and generally provide more options for the customer to look into your business and everything else you offer, right on Google. This is available to view for both desktop and mobile searches.
