To list products on Google for free, you need a Merchant Center account, product data with the required attributes (such as title, price, image and availability), a return policy on your website and shipping costs set up. Free listings cost nothing, but Google says it does not guarantee your products will be shown.
Free listings show your products without paying per click in places like Google Search, Google Maps, Gemini, YouTube, the Shopping tab, Google Images and Google Lens, according to Google’s help page. What decides whether you appear is how well your product data matches what people search for. Everything below comes from that page as of October 2026.
What do you need first?
- A store with a page for each product, on your own site or on a platform that sends data to Merchant Center.
- A return policy on your website. Google also recommends adding it in Merchant Center.
- Shipping costs, set in the Shipping settings in Merchant Center or sent in the
shippingattribute of your product data. Google lists this as required in several countries, including the US. - Admin access to the account, needed to change the free listings setting.
How do you turn free listings on?
- Check your status. New accounts are opted in automatically. On older accounts, go to Marketing > Marketing methods and look at the “Free listings” card.
- Send your product data. If a partner created your account (a store platform, for example), the data arrives through the Merchant API, and changes go through the partner’s portal.
- Provide the required attributes.
- Fix issues in the “Needs attention” tab on the Products page.
Which attributes are required?
For all products: id, title, link, image_link, price, description and availability.
In some cases you also need condition (if the product is used or refurbished), brand (when a brand or manufacturer is clearly associated), gtin (the barcode number, if the manufacturer assigned one) or mpn (if there is no GTIN), multipack and is_bundle (for bundles and multipacks) and item_group_id (for variants). Apparel and accessories also need color, size, age group and gender.
In our view, the easiest mistake to avoid is a missing GTIN: if the manufacturer gave your product a barcode number, send it. If there is no GTIN, the page says to use mpn.
How do you improve your chances of showing up?
Google recommends useful, relevant content, natural keywords in titles and descriptions, and following its SEO guidelines. It also asks you to link Merchant Center to any third-party platform you use, to your Business Profile if you have one, and to your online store, so prices and details match. A price mismatch between your feed and your site is a classic cause of rejection, and the page stresses that your data should match your store.
Images must also be large enough and cannot carry promotional content, or they may be disapproved.
How do you track results?
Open the Performance page in Merchant Center and filter for free listings. Check regularly which products get exposure and which still have issues, and fix the ones most likely to sell first, such as your highest-margin items. If you ever decide to pay for ads, work out your break-even return first in What Is ROAS?. The help page does not say how long it takes for products to start appearing, so do not promise a timeline to anyone, yourself included.
What are the common mistakes?
- No return policy or shipping costs, which are requirements.
- Price or availability that differ between the feed and the site.
- Small images, or images with promotional text.
- Missing GTIN when the manufacturer has assigned one.
- Ignoring the “Needs attention” tab.
One more detail: Google can show products it crawls from your store, along with some Merchant Center data, even if you turn free listings off. To control that, use crawling and indexing settings such as robots meta tags.
Who is this not for?
It is not for anyone without a website or product pages, and it does not replace a marketplace if you want sales immediately. In practice, the first setup is the slowest: you review the title, image, price and availability of every product, and after that you only keep the feed current. If you sell through a platform like Shopify, check its fees in How Much Does Shopify Cost? before counting your costs.
Frequently asked questions
Do Google free listings cost anything?
No. They are exposure without paying per click. Shopping ads are a separate, paid product.
Do I need a registered business?
The help page we used does not cover that, so we are not claiming anything. Check Merchant Center’s rules for your situation.
How long until my products appear?
The help page gives no timeline. Visibility depends on your data and how well it matches searches.
What happens if my feed has errors?
Products with problems show up in the “Needs attention” tab on the Products page, and Google says images that are too small or carry promotional content may be disapproved. Fix the listed issues and check the tab again.
Can I turn free listings off?
Yes, with admin access. Even so, Google may still show content it crawls from your store.
