Google Merchant Center is testing a ‘checkout’ pilot that could give you an extra opportunity to bring customers to your website.

The Google Merchant Center team has sent out an email alerting merchants about this pilot and described it:

• “Give ready-to-buy customers the option to land directly in your checkout. A. new pilot from Google has helped increase conversions and sales for participating merchants.”

To get into the trial, you have to complete a form.

Once you’re in the pilot, the ‘checkout’ CTA will appear next to the ‘visit site’ link on free product listings.

Why we care: This new feature could help create a more seamless shopping experience for customers and potentially bring more traffic to brand websites.

How does it work? To take part in the checkout pilot for your free listing, simply log into Merchant Center, click on Settings and add your checkout landing page link where you want shoppers to land. You will have the option to either add one dynamic URL template for their entire brand, or they will be able to add a unique checkout link for every individual product in the feed.

How to set up your URL template: Advertisers must ensure that the URL template they wish to use has placeholder product data parameters for specifying the product ID as well as any other parameters. This is to make sure that customers are taken to the right checkout page. Currently, Google can support a maximum of five parameters within a URL template.

Essential placeholder parameter requirements by Google:

• ID – The ID attribute associated with the offer. This will be substituted with the [id] attribute given in the feed for the offer.

Optional placeholder parameter requirements by Google:

• Size – The size attribute associated with the offer. This will be substituted with the [size] attribute provided in the feed for the offer.
• Color – The color attribute associated with the offer. This will be substituted with the [color] attribute provided in the feed for the offer.

What has Google said? The search engine is encouraging advertisers to ensure that customers being taken to their website from Google are given the best possible user experience. Although it isn’t essential, Google is recommending you consider:

• Supporting a smooth transition for checkout with purchase flows designed for customers coming directly from Google.
• Communicating clearly so that customers can easily verify who they’re purchasing from, as well as what they’re buying and how much it’s going to cost them.