TLDR Eligible products can appear without a click charge on Google Shopping, Search, Images, Lens, YouTube, Maps and Gemini. A Merchant Center account, or the free Google & YouTube app for Shopify, supplies the product data, but approval and an active free-listings setting do not guarantee a placement.
Sponsored products now appear within some Shopping tab grids and AI shopping results, so unpaid placements compete for attention. The available observations suggest that this is happening more visibly in the US, although nobody has published a reliable measure of the effect on free-listing clicks.
Free listings can still bring sales, but the published results come from small samples and will not predict what your store earns. The practical opportunity is to keep your feed accurate, check how listings appear in your market and measure visits against revenue.
Google changed Merchant Center reporting on 24 August 2026, which can create an apparent drop in organic traffic for stores affected by YouTube affiliate reclassification or revised YouTube metrics. You can use Search Console and Analytics alongside Merchant Center to understand what changed.
What free listings are and where they appear
Google uses its Shopping Graph to organise product information for Shopping, Search and AI shopping experiences. Google says the graph contains more than 50 billion listings, with more than 2 billion refreshed each hour. Merchants can provide titles, prices, images, availability and shipping details through the free Google Merchant Center service, although Google also gathers information from websites and other sources.
A Merchant Center product may be shown as a paid Shopping ad or as an unpaid free listing. Shopping ads are managed through Google Ads, while a click on a free listing carries no advertising charge and does not require a Google Ads account. Google decides whether and where to show an eligible product using the information available about it and the shopperās search.
Google lists Search, Maps, Gemini, YouTube, the Shopping tab, Images and Lens as possible places for free listings. New Merchant Center accounts are generally opted in by default, but Google says that the setting only permits an eligible product to appear; it does not guarantee visibility for a particular search.
For Shopify stores, Googleās free Google & YouTube app can sync product information to Merchant Center and keep it updated. Stores that create their Merchant Center account through the app are generally opted in to free listings, although they still need eligible products and a supported market.
Google opened the Shopping tab to free listings in 2020, initially in the US and then in other markets. The reason to revisit the programme in 2026 is the wider range of shopping experiences using product information and the growing presence of ads alongside unpaid results.
How product feeds reach Google AI shopping
Googleās AI Mode shopping experience uses the Shopping Graph when people browse products and compare options. A detailed Merchant Center feed can help Google understand a product when someone asks a specific question, but AI Mode also draws on indexed pages and other sources, so the feed is an input rather than a promise that an AI answer will recommend your store.
Ecommerce SEO consultant Brodie Clark describes AI Mode free listings as another possible placement and says they follow the broad eligibility rules for free listings. Search Engine Roundtable also observed more unpaid Merchant Center products within AI Overviews in late 2025, although an observed result does not establish how often a placement appears.
Google announced AI performance insights in Merchant Center in May 2026 for selected English-language queries in the US, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand. The report covers organic AI visibility across AI Mode and AI Overviews, including share of voice and missing product attributes, but it does not currently include paid ads. Google also announced the Universal Commerce Protocol in January 2026 to support checkout in eligible AI shopping experiences; participation involves additional requirements beyond having a product feed.
What changed in 2026
The timeline shows the changes that affect where unpaid products may appear and how merchants should interpret their reports.
| When | What changed | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| April 2020 | Free listings open on the Shopping tab | Merchants can submit eligible products without paying for clicks |
| January 2026 | Universal Commerce Protocol announced | Eligible retailers may support checkout within AI shopping |
| 20 April 2026 | Sponsored tiles documented inside the Shopping tab grid | Unpaid products compete with ads in some results |
| 27 May 2026 | Merchant Center AI insights announced | Eligible accounts can inspect organic AI visibility |
| June to August 2026 | Search Console AI impressions report launched and expanded worldwide | A separate view of AI visibility, though not free-listing clicks |
| 24 August 2026 | YouTube affiliate and organic reporting definitions change | Some stores may see a one-time shift in the Organic line |
Ads inside the Shopping tab grid
On 20 April 2026, SEO researcher Brodie Clark documented sponsored tiles within a Shopping tab grid that had previously shown unpaid products. Search Engine Roundtable reported the change, and SERP Lens later observed as many as four ad slots in some results. These examples show that ads can share the grid with free listings, but they do not measure how much unpaid traffic merchants have lost.
Ads in AI Mode
Google has discussed bringing more ads into conversational shopping, and Search Engine Watch described a search for headphones on 11 September 2026 that displayed only sponsored products. One query on one day cannot establish how often that happens, so it is a reason to monitor results rather than a basis for forecasting lost free traffic.
Why organic traffic may appear to drop
On 24 August 2026, Google separated commission-eligible YouTube affiliate interactions from the Organic category in Merchant Center and changed how YouTube organic activity is counted. Google says either change may cause a one-time fall in reported organic traffic, with the affected historical data restated from 1 July 2026. If your graph drops around those dates, compare the underlying channels before treating the change as a loss of visibility.
What the available data says about results
Free listings remain available, but the evidence on their commercial value comes largely from merchants and agencies rather than broad independent studies. Treat the figures below as examples of what is possible, then judge the channel by your own sessions and revenue.
Digital Commerce Partners published figures for two clients in April 2026. For one apparel brand, free Merchant listings generated less than 1% of Search Console clicks, while its organic Shopping sessions earned about 77% more revenue per session than regular organic search.
āOrganic Shopping sessions are worth 77.38% more than organic search sessions for this client.ā
ā Digital Commerce Partners, April 2026
For an electronics manufacturer, organic Shopping accounted for 1.5% of sessions and about three times the revenue per session of regular organic search. These are two clients of an agency that sells the service, so they are illustrations rather than a benchmark.
In his guide to Googleās product grids, Clark reports a 58% click-through rate from a top free-grid position on one site, while explaining that the impression is counted only after a shopper opens the grid. He also describes sites that lost clicks as shoppers moved from traditional results into product grids, although that observation does not establish the effect for every category.
For historical context, Glopal reported in 2020 that free listings supplied 10% to 25% of merchantsā Shopping clicks. That figure predates AI Mode and the newer ad placements, so it should not be used as a 2026 target.
There is no published before-and-after study here of free-listing clicks following the April 2026 ad placements. Seresa expects sponsored tiles to reduce organic click-through while impressions remain relatively steady, but that remains a hypothesis until stores compare their own data.
Why results differ by country
The strongest country comparison in this article comes from one practitionerās product-grid tracking, so it is useful for deciding what to inspect in your market but cannot establish a continent-wide trend.
In a guide updated in July 2026, Clark found organic product grids on 19% of Italian mobile results and 15% of Italian desktop results in his sample, compared with 16% and 14% in the UK. His Australian sample rose from no tracked grids to 13% of mobile results, and he also observed the format in Germany, France and Spain. These percentages describe the search results he tracked, not the share of all shopping traffic or sales.
āthere is still a significant opportunity to gain organic traffic from this featureā
ā Brodie Clark, Brodie Clark Consulting, July 2026
Clark observed ads above some US product grids but reported no such ads in the European and Australian grids he examined at the time. This is a July snapshot from his own tools, and it may already differ by query, device or country. Merchants should check their own results before assuming their market has more unpaid space or better conversion rates.
Set up free listings step by step
For a small catalogue, the initial setup may take an afternoon, followed by Googleās product review. Igniting Business says the first sync can take longer than the commonly quoted three to five days, so allow time before judging whether the feed is working.
Before you start
Your store should have product pages where customers can buy directly, a domain you control and visible shipping and returns information. The prices and availability shown to Google must match your website, while the Google account you choose should be one your business can continue to access.
Step 1 Create or open Merchant Center
Sign in to Merchant Center, add your business details and verify the store URL so Google can connect the account with your website. New accounts are usually opted in to free listings automatically, and Shopify merchants can create or connect the account through the Google & YouTube app in the next step.
Step 2a Add products with Shopify
Install Google & YouTube from the Shopify App Store, connect your Google account and choose or create a Merchant Center account. Google publishes the app without a fee, and Shopify offers a Merchant Center only setup for free listings, so you do not need to connect a Google Ads account to start.
The app syncs eligible store products and keeps their data current, provided that the relevant products are available to the online store and meet the channelās requirements. Regular syncing matters because stale product data can expire in Merchant Center.
Check the countries and languages you sell in, making sure Shopify Markets and shipping rates cover them. You can also choose whether Google uses each productās SEO title and meta description, and Shopify warns that connecting an account with an existing feed may overwrite that feed. Review the account before connecting a second source of product data.
Step 2b Add products from another platform
Merchant Center can take product data from a spreadsheet, scheduled upload, API, platform integration, feed service or an automatic website scan. A Google Sheet may be enough for a small catalogue, while a platform integration or feed service usually makes it easier to keep a larger inventory current.
Choose one primary source of product data and inspect any automatic imports before adding another. In a Shopify Community thread, a merchant suspected that duplicate entries from the app, manual listings and Googleās site import contributed to a drop in impressions; the thread is a troubleshooting example, not proof that duplication caused the decline.
Step 3 Check the free listings setting
In Merchant Center, open Marketing, then Marketing methods, and check the Free listings card; an administrator can change its status. MB Adv says the check is part of its account audits, while Paz.ai has seen retailers using paid Shopping without the free setting enabled. Neither publishes a prevalence estimate, but the setting is quick to confirm.
Step 4 Add shipping and returns
Add shipping settings in Merchant Center or provide shipping costs with product data; Google requires this for many markets, including Greece, Romania, the UK and the US. Publish your return policy on the site as well, and consider adding it in Merchant Center so customers can see the terms next to a listing. Shipping costs, delivery speed and returns can also affect whether shoppers choose your offer.
Step 5 Complete the required product details
Google lists the following product attributes for free listings, with requirements that depend on the product type and market.
| Attribute | Required for | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| id | All products | A unique ID for each product |
| title | All products | Brand + product type + key detail. Clear, not keyword-stuffed |
| description | All products | Describe the actual product, not your shop |
| link | All products | Must point to the product page itself |
| image_link | All products | Large enough, with no promotional text on the image |
| price | All products | Must match your website exactly |
| availability | All products | Keep it in sync with your real stock |
| brand | Products with a clear brand or manufacturer | |
| gtin | Products with a manufacturer barcode | Helps Google match you to the right searches |
| mpn | Products without a GTIN | Use together with brand |
| condition | Used or refurbished items | |
| color, size, age_group, gender | Apparel and accessories | Needed to show correct sizes and filters |
| item_group_id | Product variants | Groups sizes and colours of one product together |
Google recommends additional images where available, along with applicable attributes such as material and pattern for apparel.
Step 6 Fix products that need attention
In Merchant Center, open Products and inspect Needs attention, starting with issues affecting the most items. A disapproved product cannot appear as an eligible free listing, and common causes include mismatched prices, missing identifiers, unsuitable images and absent shipping information.
Step 7 Add useful product specifications
Specific product details can help Google match a listing to a shopperās needs, including long questions asked in AI shopping. Fill in applicable attributes such as material, size system, pattern and product highlights rather than adding generic claims. Google has introduced optional conversational attributes, including a question-and-answer field, to describe products in more detail.
If your account has AI performance insights, look at which specifications shoppers ask about and where your feed is missing them. Google currently limits this Merchant Center report to eligible English-language queries in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the US.
Keep the Product structured data on your site accurate too, because Google may combine page markup with Merchant Center data. Clark recommends checking Search Consoleās Merchant listings report for structured-data errors, and Google provides separate guidance for marking up variants with ProductGroup. Do not treat the number of valid items in the Product snippets and Merchant listings reports as a direct count of products shown in free grids.
Step 8 Improve the offer and presentation
Eligibility alone does not determine where a listing appears, and shoppers also compare the price, delivery terms and returns policy. Clark has observed these offer details influencing which seller receives prominent placement, but the effect varies by query and Google does not promise a top position for completing a checklist.
Depending on your store and market, these Merchant Center features may make a listing more informative or appealing to shoppers:
- Googleās Top Quality Store badge, based on shipping, returns, website quality and reviews
- Seller ratings
- Promotions and coupon codes, which you can apply to free listings only
- āBuyā checkout options
- Payment badges such as PayPal and Google Pay
- Loyalty programs
Step 9 Measure traffic and AI visibility
Use several reports because each answers a different question about free listings and AI results. Merchant Center can show free-listing performance, Search Console covers appearances in Search, and Analytics connects visits with revenue; their figures should not be expected to match exactly.
In Search Console, filter the Search results Performance report by Merchant listings to examine that search appearance. Google also rolled out a separate Generative AI performance report worldwide by August 2026, which shows impressions for AI Mode and AI Overviews but currently does not break out free-listing clicks. These views measure different things, so do not use the Merchant listings filter as a complete count of AI shopping traffic.
In GA4, check the Organic Shopping channel in Traffic acquisition for sessions and revenue, and link Merchant Center with auto-tagging enabled so the channel is classified correctly. Playhouse Digital notes that Shopify stores may need to check this configuration even when they already use Googleās app.
āthe free listings traffic is mixed in with other organic traffic sourcesā
ā Brodie Clark, Search Engine Land, July 2025
For feed links, avoid hard-coded tracking tags that label unpaid visits as paid clicks, such as āgoogle / cpc.ā Clark documented how those tags can make free-listing revenue appear under paid traffic.
Add annotations for 20 April 2026, when ads were observed inside the Shopping tab grid, and 24 August 2026, when Merchant Center changed reporting. Compare the periods with care because neither date alone proves that a change in your sales came from Googleās product placements.
Step 10 Check results in your market
Once a month, inspect your main product searches on a phone in the country where you sell, using the same set of queries each time. Record whether an unpaid product grid appears, whether your products are present, whether sponsored tiles appear and what AI Mode recommends. Manual checks are snapshots, but a consistent record can reveal changes worth investigating in your reports.
When approved products do not appear
Merchant Center approval does not guarantee that a product will be shown for a particular query. Shopify merchants have described approved products with no visible Shopping placement and, in an older community thread, abrupt falls in free-listing impressions without a warning. Those reports show the experience of individual stores, not a known failure rate.
Clark identifies several store policies and purchase flows that can limit free-listing eligibility, including:
- purchases limited to businesses
- business details required at checkout
- content or purchases restricted by location
- products offered for rent or at auction rather than at a fixed price
If the Merchant Center account is suspended, Shopify says products can stop showing until the issue is fixed and Google completes a review. These cases deserve a check of eligibility and policies before you assume a ranking change caused the loss.
Review Needs attention regularly and watch Search Console for sudden changes in eligible pages and search impressions, then investigate the affected products and countries.
What to expect from free listings
Free product listings remain an available way to reach shoppers without paying for clicks, and a well-maintained feed can also support Googleās AI shopping experiences. Ads now appear within some formerly unpaid product grids, while the evidence for a broad loss of free traffic or a durable European advantage is still limited. Check the placements in the countries where you sell and measure the visitors and sales your own store receives.
The sensible first investment is accurate product information, competitive offers and reliable measurement. Those improvements help shoppers evaluate your products even when Google changes the layout around them.
Resources
- Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products
- Google Merchant Center Help: Show your products for free on Google (Google & YouTube app on Shopify)
- Google Merchant Center Help: Syncing your products (Google & YouTube app on Shopify)
- Google Merchant Center Help: Merchant Center announcements change log
- Google Merchant Center Help: Insights for AI-powered shopping experiences coming soon
- Google Merchant Center Help: Merchant Center performance reporting updates
- Google Blog: Shopping on Google - AI Mode and virtual try-on updates from I/O 2025
- Google Blog: New tech and tools for retailers to succeed in an agentic shopping era
- TechCrunch: Google announces a new protocol to facilitate commerce using AI agents
- Search Engine Land: In major shift, Google Shopping opens up to free product listings
- Search Engine Land: Unlocking organic shopping - 8 insights from Googleās free listings (Brodie Clark)
- Search Engine Land: Google outlines AI-powered, agent-driven future for shopping and ads in 2026
- Search Engine Land: Google updates Merchant Center with cross-platform reporting
- PPC Land: Google Shopping tab now mixes ads into free listing grids
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google Shopping Showing More Shopping Ads
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google AI Overviews Showing More Free Product Listings
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights
- Search Engine Watch: Google AI Mode now showing more ads
- Search Engine Journal: How To Advertise In Google AI Mode For Ecommerce
- Practical Ecommerce: Donāt Drop Google Shopping Ads Despite the Free Listings
- Shopify Help Center: Set up the Google & YouTube channel
- Shopify Help Center: Syncing your products
- Shopify Help Center: Google & YouTube channel requirements
- Google Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report for Search
- Digital Commerce Partners: Google Shopping SEO - The Complete Guide to Organic Shopping Visibility
