As a business owner, you want to take advantage of all of the free marketing tools you have at your disposal, including Google Business Profile. If you already have a Google Business Profile, you’ve likely already added basic information about your business there. But you may not be using all of the features available to you—specifically, the Products feature.

Adding products to your Google Business Profile is a simple way to boost your sales, as well as increase brand recognition. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to add products to your Google Business Profile and explain the benefits of doing so.

How to Add Products to Your Google Business Profile

Before we get into the pros and cons of using the Products feature, let’s talk about how to get started using it. The following steps outline how to add products to your Google Business Profile.

Step 1: Understand the Customer Experience

It is important to understand how customers will view your product catalog after you create it. When someone sees your Google Business Profile listing in Google search results, they will see the a products carousel or a “Products” tab.

When customers look at the “Products” tab, they will see two carousels: “From Product Posts” and “Product Catalog.” The “From Product Posts” carousel will feature the products that you added to your profile via Google Business Profile posts. The “Product Catalog” carousel will show the various product categories that you’ve created.

When customers go to the “Products” tab, they can:

Click on product cards to see details about the product
Click on products within product categories to see details
Click on product categories for overviews
Call or chat with you
Follow a link to order online
Provide feedback (for legal or copyright issues)

The other important thing to know is that the product you added the most recently will appear first on your profile. You can, however, delete and re-add or edit a product to move it back to the “most recent” position.

Keeping all of these factors in mind will help you create listings that potential customers will find appealing.

Step 2: Familiarize Yourself With Product Editor

Before you start adding products, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with Product Editor. This is the Google tool that you will use to upload products onto your Business Profile. For more information about Product Editor, check out Google’s official resource.

Step 3: Confirm You Can Post Your Products

Confirm your products are eligible to be listed. For most companies, this will not be a concern. However, Google doesn’t let you add products or services that are regulated. This includes:

Health or medical devices
Unapproved supplements
Pharmaceuticals
Financial services
Gambling
Alcohol
Tobacco products

If you sell any of these products, you will not be able to list them on the Google Business Profile Products feature. Do not attempt to list them anyway, as this would violate Google’s policies.

Step 4: Go to Your Google Business Profile

Start by making sure that you are logged into the account you used to claim your Google Business Profile listing. From there, use the search bar to find your profile. You can do so by searching for the phrase “my business” while logged in or searching for your exact business name.

Once you’ve found your profile, click “View profile.”

Step 5: Add Products

Click on the “Edit profile” button.

From there, go to “Products” and find the option to “Add product.”

Next, you will be asked to fill out a few fields. Filling out these fields will help your product appeal to more customers.

The fields are as follows:

Product category
Product name
Product image (1200 x 900)
Price
Button (Learn More, Get Offer, Buy, or Order Online)
Link
Description (up to 1,000 characters)

Step 6: Preview the Product Details

You can preview what customers will see when they view your products before submitting the changes. To do so, select “See it on Google.”

Keep in mind that it sometimes takes a few minutes for your products to appear after you add them. As such, Google suggests waiting a few minutes, then refreshing the page.

Step 7: Edit or Delete Products When Necessary

If you ever need to edit or delete a product, you can go back to your profile and the “Products” section. From there, you can just select the product in question from the list. This will give you the option to delete or edit it. As with when you add a product, the changes may take a few minutes to appear.

The Impact of Adding Products to Your Business Listing

For most local businesses, adding products to their profile is a no-brainer, but there are still some caveats that you should be aware of. Understanding these pros and cons will help you create a better-informed strategy for using the Products feature.

Pros

As with every other part of your Google Business Profile, listing your products will help boost your local SEO efforts.

Your Google Business Profile products will show up when people perform a local search for similar items. By making local keyword research a part of your digital marketing strategy, you can customize your profile even more and ensure that the right people are finding your products.

The Products feature is one of the many free business features Google provides.

Using the Google Business Profile Products feature can be your way of breaking into e-commerce if you don’t have a full solution yet.

Your product listings can include buttons to call or send you a message if customers have questions. This can further boost conversions.

Most of your business products will appear on both the computer and mobile versions—no matter what device local customers are using to search, they’ll be able to find you.

One product may attract the attention of customers, encouraging them to look at the rest of your product catalog carousel.

Cons

Since you have to upload products separately, it takes time to add products to your Google Business Profile, especially if you have an extensive catalog.

The best keywords will have high competition for products.

This feature may not be ideal for companies with a constantly rotating inventory.

You should use high-quality photos of your products, which requires an extra step in some cases. (Although you hopefully already have high-quality photos of your products for your website.)

This feature is ideal for small and medium businesses. Larger companies may not find it practical to use Google products, especially if they have more than a few verticals. In that case, Google Shopping may be a good alternative.

Conclusion

Taking advantage of the product catalog on Google Business Profile can be an excellent way to boost sales. It lets your products get more visibility and is one of many effective ways of using Google Business Profile to improve your local SEO strategy.