Google: Free Listings and Local Service Ads in Italy

Supporting retail with initiatives designed to act as a flywheel in the perspective of economic recovery: this is the vision of Google applied to Italy as evidenced by today's press release that will bring two new features to our country. Anticipated in recent months with announcements that initially concerned other territories, both leverage on the peculiarities that characterize the online services and platforms managed by the group.

Two news from Google for retail in Italy

The first concerns the possibility of having free product sheets in the Shopping tab so as to be able to reach new customers using a showcase that is deeply integrated into the search engine and without having to face any advertising investment. The test conducted in the United States returned encouraging results, convincing the Mountain View group to continue with a global rollout. The debut is set for mid-October in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in time for the hottest online shopping season of the year.



Who already uses the Merchant Center and ads on Shopping does not have to do anything: the inventory of the products will appear automatically and without costs.

The other news coming is the one concerning the ads for Local Services through which users and customers can find offers and proposals in their vicinity. It leverages the sense of local community that has been particularly felt in the last difficult period: according to Google, searches containing "near me" have more than doubled all over the world, + 300% in Italy.



The feature debuts not only with us but also in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Google Protection badge appears on the device of the person making the search, as you can see in the image above.

Initiatives that are part of a broader program implemented by the Mountain View group to help companies: just a few weeks ago the launch of the Google site for companies aimed at SMEs, part of the Italia in Digitale project which has allocated investments of 900 million euros over five years to support the restart.

Source: Google Blog Italy