A Google spokesperson confirmed to Search Engine Land that the company has added a “Shops” section to its mobile search results. The Shops section displays three retailers (but can be expanded to display up to ten) based on their organic search rankings and is available on mobile devices in the United States for select shopping-related queries.
Google’s Statement
“We recently launched Shops, a new module available on mobile devices for select US-English shopping-related queries,” a Google representative told Search Engine Land. “We launched this to help present more seller options to Search users.” This feature currently displays three shops, but users can expand to see up to ten merchants based on availability. The order and selection of the results displayed are based on organic search ranking.”
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Another milestone for Google’s organic shopping efforts
Over the last two years, Google has transitioned its shopping-related results from a paid product to one that provides ample organic visibility opportunities, beginning with the introduction of free product listings in April 2020.
In addition, the company has launched Shopping integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, and GoDaddy, among other e-commerce platforms, as well as a “deals” section in search results.
Why we care
The Shops section is another area in the search results where retailers may potentially appear, increasing brand awareness and driving traffic. However, because the Shops section is based on the organic search ranking, retailers who don’t already rank well may be excluded.
As Google continues to add support for organic shopping features, merchants must ensure that their sites are optimized for both traditional search results and shopping-related features.
Non-shopping results may also appear on the same page as Shops results (in the case of the screenshot above, there is a listing for a tutorial on how to fix a broken bike chain). More shopping features may potentially push non-shopping-related results further down the page, affecting clickthroughs.
From an industry standpoint, Google’s development of organic e-commerce features that benefit both users and merchants demonstrates the rise of digital commerce and its role in the company’s strategy.
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