Google Merchant Center Browsing Experience BETA Card

Google Merchant Center is beta testing a new score card to help merchants understand how their browsing experience score is doing. This card is called “Browsing Experience” and it shows how well your site’s products are doing with image quality.

This was spotted by Emmanuel Flossie who spotted this and wrote, “Google has recently introduced a new feature in its Merchant Center, aimed at enriching the browsing experience for shoppers.” This is a BETA feature, meaning not everyone will see it and those that do might not see it in the future.

Here is what that Browsing Experience card looks like:

It seems to be related to the Google shopping experience scorecard of sorts.

FeedArmy wrote that you need to hit on image quality and quantity and shared these details (note, there is this help document you can read as well). Emmanuel Flossie wrote:

Image Quality:

• Resolution Matters: Google sets a high bar for image quality, considering images above 1048 pixels as high-resolution. (Google Merchant Center shows 1048; the official documentation says 1024.)
• Optimization Techniques: Retailers can optimize their website images by adding robots meta tags with max-image-size: large. This simple yet effective tag allows Google to select the highest-quality images, reducing manual effort automatically.
• Integration with Merchant Center: Ensuring that all products on your website are also listed in your Merchant Center account is vital. This integration allows Google to automatically upgrade to higher-quality images, a boon for those initially uploaded with lower resolution. (Do not rely on Google’s WebCrawler as your data feed solution.)

Image Quantity:

• The Power of Multiple Images: Google recommends 5 to 8 images per product. This range is not arbitrary; it’s rooted in enhancing the customer’s visual journey. Multiple images from various angles provide a comprehensive view, enabling customers to make informed purchase decisions. It’s a strategy that boosts the browsing experience and builds trust and transparency.

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