Good morning Search Marketer, will free shopping listings be enough for Google to compete against Amazon?
Probably not, but it's still a win for some merchants. From organic (back in the Froogle days) to paid and now both: free product listings have begun rolling out on Google Shopping. The news made a big splash for e-commerce marketers when it was announced last Tuesday; organic Google Shopping results were spotted live on Friday — a tip of the hat to Glenn Gabe for calling it out. This expansion should help Google appeal to both merchants and consumers, and help the search engine make some headway in the e-commerce sector.
Google's going to have to do much more than add organic product listings to reach Amazon's level, though: "It would take near-flawless execution on multiple fronts to catch Amazon," writes Search Engine Land Contributing Editor Greg Sterling. At this rate, Google is positioned to become the "Bing of e-commerce," stuck in second place because it lags behind on customer service, product reviews, consumer trust, a loyalty program like Amazon Prime, and making shopping fun for consumers. Google does, however, have access to omnichannel inventory, a broader dataset than Amazon, and is clearly looking to shake things up. It's going to be a good showdown.
Many of us are trying to find opportunities to market our brands while walking that thin line between respecting the seriousness of the pandemic and trying to bring some joy and value to our customers. "Something we've been doing internally … is creating social engagement opportunities amongst our team through themed Zoom calls, and we published that we're doing this externally — people were like, 'I want to get in on that!'" said Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing, adding that he was sporting a penguin costume for his agency's Halloween-in-April-themed all-hands meeting.
During our Live with Search Engine Land session on Friday, Odden, HubSpot's Meghan Keaney Anderson, Fractl's Amanda Milligan and I shared some guidance on content marketing during COVID, including experimental efforts like the example above, how the traditional success metrics need to be re-examined, what brands should be communicating and more. Watch the full session here.
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George Nguyen,
Associate Editor
