How to optimize your Google shopping images
Product listing ads are very important and your images even more so. These play a very important role in the decision to buy an item when using Google Shopping. Not having the right image can decrease the quality of our feed and affect our results.
The image is the largest part of the ad, so it is important not only that it meets Google's requirements, but that it also looks attractive and appeals to the interest of our user.
Today I want to talk about some of the best practices and requirements to get the most out of images.
Let's start with the requirements:
First you need to have the image link, that is, a URL for the image itself, this is required to be part of the Feed.
The same happens for “representative” images, which are not allowed except for two situations:
- In the categories of hardware or vehicle parts. In this scenario, illustrations are allowed if necessary.
- In paint shops, images that are only full color are allowed.
The image must accurately represent what we are selling, this may seem obvious but we have to take special care so that the backgrounds or elements in the photo do not stand out more than the product itself.
In this example, it may not be well understood what we are selling: It is a blanket but it may look like a long coat. So it is important that the product we sell is well understood as it may be the first time a user sees it.
Only the following formats are accepted .gif (No animation), .jpeg, .png, .bmp and .tif / .tiff.
The maximum image size is 64 Mpx and the weight is 16 MB
Make sure the image is clear, this is especially important for clothing items where the image must be at least 250 × 250 px, and for other non-clothing items the image should be at least 100 × 100 px.
In fact, if at any time the image does not appear input or cut, this is because the image does not meet the requirements.
Lastly, let's consider the URL requirements. It is important to remember that Google is going to recognize the images and their lenses using crawlers and an algorithm. That is why having the correct URL is essential.
Let's look at some of the requirements:
- We must use the category (image_link) in the feed, the URL must lead to the main image of the product.
- It must start with HTTP or HTTPS
- The URL must be in line with the RFC 2369 or RFC 1738 standard, for example:
- Un espacio sería %20
- Comillas serían %22
- Numeral sería %23
We already saw the requirements, now let's see the best practices for choosing the best possible image
Image size
800 × 800 px or larger images are recommended. These images show the product in general with better resolution and more detail, as we can see in the image below.
Image content
As we discussed earlier, the image should be easy to see. It is recommended to use a flat background color without logos, except for the logo inside the product. Here we can see that a product with several elements around it can generate confusion and detract from the product.
Retouching
It is becoming easier to take good quality photos with few resources, however it is important to bear in mind that even if we take the photos with very good lighting, retouching them can help us to have a much cleaner image. As seen in the image, the unretouched photo has a slightly grayer color and this can make it look a little lower quality compared to other images.
