Google Expands Free Retail Listings Into Search as Pandemic Hits Ad Sales (venturebeat.com) 4
Google will expand free shopping results from a narrow experiment in its shopping tab to the main search engine, dramatically expanding their reach. From a report: The company announced the move today in a blog post written by commerce president Bill Ready. The shift is part of a continuous move away from paid search results and follows a trend of users searching more for information on subjects like the coronavirus and less for products. At the same time, advertisers have been cutting spending as the pandemic takes an economic toll. Ready attributed the move to Google's desire to help sellers and buyers connect and noted that it remains difficult for users to find what they need online in terms of product, price, and seller reputation. Likewise, digital remains a challenge for many small businesses, even as shoppers continue to gravitate toward online purchasing. "It's crucial that we help people find all the best options available and help merchants more easily connect with consumers online," Ready wrote.
If you haven't given up on google search yet. (Score:2)
Better explanation? (Score:2)
Cany anybody better explain exactly what this means? I actually RTFA and I'm still not sure how to make sense of it. I don't quite get how one is different than the other (other than paying), and it seems that advertising, regardless of whether is is paid or free, would NOT do anything to help me find products or sellers with a better reputation.
Re: (Score:3)
Its corporate speak which means its easy to translate. If it sounds confusing its because you're about to get screwed.
Is this a play against Amazon? (Score:2)
This is undoubtedly good for smaller web shops who don't have large advertising budgets.
The more interesting question is if this is a shot at Amazon?
By broadening the e-commerce landscape, this will create higher profile alternatives to Amazon.
Did Google executives have an integrated shopping/cloud compute strategy or is this just a PR move? Seems like it could be the former to me.