Google is rolling out a new addition to search results this week which makes it easy to shop for popular products.
When searching for keywords such as “running shoes” or “down jackets” Google will now return a new section that showcases popular products from stores across the web. This new section will show up when searching for clothes, shoes, and accessories.
While browsing the popular products section users can filter results by style, department, and size. After selecting a product Google will list the sites where it can be purchased from, which will let users quickly compare prices.
It will even be possible to read product reviews without leaving search results. Users will, however, have to visit a retailer’s site in order to purchase the desired product.
“To make this feature possible, Google indexes and organizes products from over a million online shops, and updates this information regularly. Just as we don’t charge sites to be part of the Google Search index, participating retailers appear in this new feature for free.”
In order for merchants to have products surfaced in the popular products section, they’re encouraged to set up product feeds in Google Merchant Center and/or apply the appropriate structured data markup to product pages.
According to Google, this new feature will help drive organic traffic to merchants. It will be interesting to see if that ends up being the case, considering this feature allows users to do a considerable amount of browsing without ever leaving Google.
Google is working on more consumer experiences for browsing and discovering new products, so further updates like this one will soon be on the way.