Google Merchant Center adds auto-tagging for all free listings across Google

It added Google Merchant Center earlier this year auto-tagging for free ads in your Merchant Center account. But this only worked in the Google Shopping tab, but now it works in all Google experiences.

Google announced you can now use auto-tagging to see conversions for all free listings and free local listings on Google.

Previously, auto-tagging was only available for listings on the Shopping tab. When used with a web analytics tool, you can use conversion data to see how effective your ads are, Google said.

When auto-tagging is enabled, when someone clicks on your free product listing and free local product listing, auto-tagging adds some additional information, including a parameter called “result id,” a parameter of the URL that searchers click on.

The parameter can be parsed by your analytics tool like Google Analytics to track these result IDs and give you more insight into your Merchant Center listings. Google said “this will allow you to see how effectively your free ads and free local ads are driving valuable customer activity, such as purchases.”

If you’re already using auto-tagging, you don’t need to do anything: additional conversion data from free listings and free local listings will be automatically included in your reports. To enable auto-tagging in your Merchant Center account, go to “Conversion Settings” in your Merchant Center account.

When used with a web analytics tool, auto-tagging lets you see how effective your free ads and free local ads are at driving important customer activity (like purchases). When you turn on auto-tagging in Merchant Center, you can:

• Track conversions from your free ads and free local product listings on your site across all browsers (separately from other types of conversions).
• Split performance in a third-party web analytics tool like Google Analytics between your free listings and free local listings from all Google organic traffic.

Forum discussion at Twitter.