Source: Search Engine Roundtable by barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz). Read the original article
TL;DR Summary of Google Merchant Center’s New Automatic Shipping Updates Feature
Google Merchant Center introduces automatic shipping updates to enhance the accuracy of product shipping information. This feature leverages historical tracking data from partner accounts to provide customers with more reliable delivery estimates. Currently, it is available only in the United States, with merchants outside the US able to opt in. By using both crawled and performance shipping speeds, the system helps merchants improve their shipping performance and customer experience.
Optimixed’s Overview: Enhancing E-commerce Trust with Automated Shipping Accuracy
Understanding the New Shipping Updates in Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center’s latest feature under the automatic improvements tab focuses on improving how shipping information is presented to customers. By automatically updating shipping details based on real-world data, merchants can offer a more transparent and dependable shopping experience.
How the Feature Works
- Historical Tracking Data: The system gathers past order tracking information via linked partner accounts to analyze shipping performance.
- Crawled Shipping Speeds: Shipping information scraped directly from merchant websites, ensuring updates align with current displayed speeds.
- Performance Shipping Speeds: Actual delivery times calculated from order histories, providing highly accurate shipping estimates.
Benefits for Merchants and Customers
- Improved Shipping Accuracy: Automated updates reduce discrepancies between estimated and actual delivery times.
- Enhanced Customer Trust: Reliable shipping information helps customers better predict when their orders will arrive.
- Better Shipping Performance: Merchants gain insights into their shipping speeds and can optimize logistics accordingly.
Availability and Activation
Currently exclusive to the United States, merchants in other regions can opt in to the feature by linking their partner accounts and enabling data sharing. Activation requires initiating the link from the third-party provider’s platform. Once set up, merchants can enable automatic shipping updates within their Merchant Center dashboard to start benefiting from improved shipping accuracy.
