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Google Analytics’ New Merchant Center Recommendations Will Help To Boost Shopping Sales

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Published on December 3, 2024

Google Analytics generates personalized recommendations to help its users make the most out of what it offers. The pointers cover areas like data analysis and new updates and, most recently, they also help solve issues with Merchant Center products.

Merchant Center recommendations were introduced on November 22nd in order to streamline the process of finding and fixing product disapprovals during the Black Friday season and maximize product visibility. I’ll explain what the feature is and how it can help to boost your sales during and after the holiday season.

What Are Merchant Center Recommendations?

Before you can start getting your products seen in Google’s shopping search results, you have to upload them to your Google Merchant Center account. While the process sounds simple, Google Merchant Center regularly assesses products against strict guidelines and can disapprove products that don’t adhere to them at any time.

If Google disapproves your product, it won’t be visible in either paid Shopping ads or free listings, which can impact your overall visibility and your profits considerably – especially if multiple products are disapproved at the same time. On top of this, an appeal or amendment takes time.

Merchant Center recommendations were announced in Google Analytics’ updates article two weeks ago, with the aim to help users spot and fix issues with their products directly in Google Analytics.

The alerts will appear on your GA4 homepage, Insights hub, Reports snapshot, and the Acquisition overview report. Its main features include:

A clear overview of the issue and the products it’s affecting
Google Analytics data about the hidden product
Direct links to fix the issue

Merchant center recommendation example — Merchant Center recommendations will show you if an individual or group of products has been hidden and provide clear guidance on how to fix it. Source: Google

Boosting Your Holiday Season Sales

While Black Friday may have passed, the Holiday season is still in full swing – which means plenty of festive shoppers. In an X post, Google says the Merchant Center recommendations can “help you win” the season by keeping your products visible and therefore maximizing your sales.

“By addressing these disapprovals, you can increase organic traffic from Google Shopping and improve the performance of your Shopping ads, maximizing your online sales potential,” Google explains.

If your ecommerce business uses Google Analytics, you should familiarize yourself with the new feature and start utilizing it during the holiday season, so you can maximize your online presence and keep your sales high.

Written by:

Annie Angus Writer

Annie Angus is a Writer for Website Builder Expert with a passion for shaping jargon-heavy research into digestible content. She has previously researched and written about industries ranging from tech to fashion, and now, after testing our top website builders such as Wix and Squarespace, she is enthusiastic to share her findings with our readers. With first-hand experience in utilizing social media and online marketplaces to grow a small handmade clothing business, Annie understands the priorities and concerns held by SME owners, and knows precisely what they look for in a website builder. She combines this unique perspective with her knowledge of website builders to produce engaging content spanning all areas of the small business journey, from creating a strong website to growing and maintaining an audience.