Google’s adding some new tools for eCommerce brands, including a new ratings program for online shopping experience and additional insights into key product trends to help inform your pricing and marketing strategies.

First off, Google’s adding a new Shopping Experience Scorecard program, which will provide another way for shoppers to glean more insight into the performance of each seller, based on past activity.

As you can see in this example, top-rated sellers will now get a new ‘Trusted Store’ badge, which will help to assure potential customers of your service.

As explained by Google:

“Merchants who provide excellent shipping and returns services, for example, may receive a badge indicating they’re a Trusted Store, which will appear alongside their free product listings on the Shopping tab. Merchants receive a Trusted Store badge based on their performance across metrics relative to other merchants, including but not limited to shipping speeds, shipping and return costs, and return windows.”

So how does Google measure these elements?

According to Google’s overview of the process, the badges will be allocated based on its tracking of each sellers’ performance.

“The program will monitor the experience you provide to customers in several areas, including shipping speed, shipping cost, return cost, and return window. You’ll be given a rating of “Excellent”, “Comparable”, or “Opportunity” on each metric.”

Google will continuously monitor performance to provide more insight for shoppers as they search through Google Shopping listings.

Google says that in early testing, merchants that displayed a Trusted Store badge were more likely to receive clicks, while they also helped to drive more traffic to lesser-known merchants.

Essentially, it’s much like the ratings programs on Amazon or eBay, providing more insight into the performance of each seller, which can play a big role in guiding shopper activity. Which can also make this a problematic element if ratings are allocated incorrectly, and on this front, Google has also provided insight into common errors and options to escalate issues as required.

The new Shopping Experience Scorecard program is being rolled out to US-based sellers in the coming months.

In addition to this, Google has also added some new metrics for merchants, including free listings conversion and product pricing insights, to help ensure you’re pricing your items in the most competitive way.

First off, on free listing conversion – now, in your Google Merchant Center tools, you’ll be able to access a new display of total traffic, impressions and conversion rate for free product listings

That’ll make it easier to get a complete view of your Google product display performance, while the new price insights tool will help merchants see whether their products are priced competitively, as well as the projected impact of price changes on their revenue.

More specifically, the new display will show merchants how their pricing compares to the same product sold by other retailers, helping to guide your pricing strategy. Local product insights are coming soon to local retailers who manage a Business Profile in the US and Canada.

These are some handy additions, and with Google pushing to enhance its position as a key product discovery source, it can definitely work in your favor to take the time in maximizing your Google product listings.

It could also inform your pricing strategy across the board, with more information on how your products compare, and how you can enhance your listings. And with many people still turning to Google first in their research process, it can definitely play a significant part in your strategy.

You can read more about Google’s product display updates here.