>>>Rant Alert<<< Google Shopping

[Bill1954]

I have spent the last 2 days with several more to go checking all of our site images (over 20000 products). Why ? because Google shopping have decreed that our images do not meet their high standards. Nothing to do with image quality of course, they flagged up 3 images of boilers that had a flash in the corner saying 7 year guarantee. They didn't stop to think that these are manufacturers images and by amending them we are in violation of our image rights agreement. The email goes on to state that no promotional or other material can be shown on images so no line drawings to show scale, no guarantees and so on, all useful customer information but the Big G reckons they detract from the shopping experience. I wonder if they do any research on these things or is it just something that is pulled out of thin air over a coffee break ?
They now also say that nothing that isn't part of the offer can be shown so that puts paid to a bath or shower enclosure being shown in a nice bathroom setting or a tap being shown attached to a basin...Madness, there is no way this detracts from the shopping experience, in fact I think it enhances it.
Google are too big and too powerful now and they make merchants jump through hoops for no good reason. Google product ads are a paid advertising medium and as such we should be able to advertise as we think fit, within reason of course.
So, I know that employees of Google look on this forum from time to time so can I have an answer to just 1 question, What detracts from the shopping experience more, a flash that shows a 7 year guarantee, or the fact that when prices are listed low to high on Google shopping, the lowest prices are often not shown in the results but hidden behind a "compare prices from xxx shops" link and the lowest price is not clearly visible until this is done.
Google tend to shout a lot about rules being bent but they themselves are by far the biggest offenders.
Friday rant over, have a nice weekend.

 

[OfficePad]

It's all because they won't be able to use your images to advertise for other sellers of the same item!

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Sorry but it does kinda make sense. If I were searching 'Levi Jeans' I just want to see pictures of the jeans and the price, without a 10% off banner or whatever in the corner of the image. Also remember that the majority of people are searching on tablets and mobiles, so the images are small and folks don't want to see banner clutter.

I do feel your pain though, not a very pleasant way to spend a few days, and GS is far from perfect :-(

 

[Bill1954]

I see your point but if one of the ads did have a 10% off banner, who would you buy from ?
Google have a monopoly on search with what is fast becoming a paid directory and the PPC bids are quickly getting to the stage where only the big companies will be able to afford to have their ads shown in the top 3 positions.

 

[bharris]

It's all because they won't be able to use your images to advertise for other sellers of the same item!

If you take the photo yourself and you then upload that image to GS do they then own the rights to the image?

 

[Bill1954]

There must be something in their T&C's as we have often seen our images (even watermarked ones in the old days) used as their main image for a product. I don't think their legal team would leave them open to Getty -esque threatening letters.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

But the price is already displayed, so would I then be clicking the ad in the hope of a further 10% off? That would be a poor user experience.

I do agree with your other comments - in my industry even ads relating to small search volume keywords are sponsored by the big players. Their budgets are big enough to display ads on any results remotely related to gardening and have sent the CPC too high for me to want to get involved.

 

[macmacman]

Who wants the google results page to look like eBay does full of union jacks and badly photoshopped promo images. Less so now eBay are trying to (slowly) stop it.

Send the main blank image to the Google shopping feed then have your annotated one as a second image on your product listing.

Ask your suppliers to send blank images. They must have been blank at one point before they added stuff to them.

 

[bharris]

Google have a monopoly on search with what is fast becoming a paid directory and the PPC bids are quickly getting to the stage where only the big companies will be able to afford to have their ads shown in the top 3 positions.

I agree with Bill1954 it is now really hard to find suppliers or information about products other than the same paid or heavily SEO sites. Using google less and less to find products now. Desperately need an alternative. Although many on here don't seem to find it a problem. Perhaps they are happy with only shopping with large organisations.

We are completely priced out of the PPC side.

 

[Mr Dibb]

Yes I'm fed up with paying to have professional photos taken, and then seeing them photos used to promote a competitor. If they are going to use my photo, then I should be the headline supplier.

 

[antropy]

They didn't stop to think that these are manufacturers images and by amending them we are in violation of our image rights agreement.

How seriously do manufacturers take these? Surely removing text/banners/diagrams would be okay? What does your account manager at the manufacturer say?

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Google don't really have a choice. There will be million of products on Google Shopping, and they need a strict set of rules to avoid people abusing the system.

A warranty sticker might not seem like much, but if all sellers were able to add graphics to images, many of them would just take it too far and cram the images with promotional text to try and increase the CTR. The search results would be a mess.

Google also aren't really in the position to make it a grey area and subjectively judge each image. It would take years and create a whole host of problems within itself.

It might be annoying, but it's understandable why they have to do it.

 

[Bill1954]

How seriously do manufacturers take these? Surely removing text/banners/diagrams would be okay? What does your account manager at the manufacturer say?

Very, we have been threatened with the removal of image rights in the past and if you have no images you don't sell