Answer
Dec 10, 2024 - 06:54 AM
We're running into some common scenarios where ecommerce merchants that come to us are communicating that they've seen a notable drop in their ecommerce traffic starting in 2024. Quite a bit has happened in 2024 when it comes to SEO...but one of the major things is that Google is now showing these "Popular Products" tables and they've started taking over the #1 positions for a lot of product searches....as you see here:
This has really changed the game and we've run into a couple scenarios and issues that ecommerce merchants are running into when considering if and how they show up in these results.
This has really changed the game and we've run into a couple scenarios and issues that ecommerce merchants are running into when considering if and how they show up in these results.
- Your Site has Products with Variants but No Product Variant Schema: One of the scenarios we've run into which is a relatively easy fix is that customers who are selling products with product variants, they don't have the "Product Group" schema (click link to view Google's documentation on how to apply this) applied to their site. This change alone, by adding the Product Group schema we've seen this change DRAMATICALLY improve the eligibility and visibility of your products in these "merchant listings". I suggest if you have product variants you apply that schema, you can see how adding product group schema has notably increased visibility in this article.
- You Have Products with Variants But Have Separate Product Pages for Each Variant: We've run into several instances of companies that have products with variants, but they've chosen to structure their sites in a way where they have set up separate product pages for every single variant. Given what we've seen in how the Product Variant Schema (called "Product Group") does to increase visibility for "merchant listings" (see impact here), it does call into question whether what worked for you in the past is the best approach for the future given how Google is prominently displaying "Popular Products". We recommend that you contact us for a free SEO Audit and consultation and we can get you in touch with an Agency Partner who has effectively managed this balance between individual product pages for variants that have enough demand for at least two of those variants to warrant it's own dedicated page....but also supporting a page that does support variants so you can ensure you're optimized for these "merchant listings".
- Your Site Does Not have Products with Variants but Low Percentage of Products "Valid" as "Merchant Listings": Another scenario we've run into is when merchants do not have product variants so the fix above doesn't apply to them, but when they check their "merchant listings" reports in Google Search console.....only a fraction of their products are being seen as "valid" in that section. We've seen that just by adding Product Variant schema you can very quickly see your eligibility expand....but to fix this second issue you should contact us for a free SEO Audit and consultation and we can get you in touch with an Agency Partner who can help identify this issue.
