Google’s Updates to Merchant Listing Experiences
Overview
Google has recently updated the developer documentation for structured data products with new requirements for eligibility to display product return policies in merchant listing experiences.
Merchant Listing Experiences
The merchant listing experiences are exclusive to merchants and include rich results such as the Shopping Knowledge panel and Popular Products, as well as shopping experiences in Google Images and Google Lens.
Structured Data Type
Publishers must use the Schema.org MerchantReturnPolicy structured data type to be eligible for these rich results, which communicates to search engines that the data is about a specific data type, in this case, it’s about a merchant return policy. Structured data types have “properties” that provide information about the data type.
Required Properties
Publishers must provide the required properties to ensure eligibility for the rich results specific to MerchantReturnPolicy, which include applicableCountry and returnPolicyCategory.
Recommended Properties
There are four kinds of recommended properties, which include merchantReturnDays, returnFees, returnMethod, and returnShippingFeesAmount. These properties are optional but should be used if they are appropriate in order to become eligible for any related rich results.
Alternative to Structured Data
Google provides an alternative way to become eligible without having to configure the associated structured data by configuring the shipping settings return policies in the Google Merchant Center Help.
WordPress Plugin Settings
Publishers who manage structured data with WordPress plugins should keep an eye out for updates to the plugins because they may contain new settings for this structured data. The WordPress plugin settings may not likely auto-fill but rather they may need to be filled in once the settings become available in order for the structured data to propagate sitewide.
Conclusion
Publishers should read Google’s new documentation on the returns policy structured data to stay updated on the latest requirements for eligibility to display product return policies in merchant listing experiences.
