What are free product listings?
Correct Answer
Free product listings appear on the Shopping Tab and provide an opportunity to highlight products and drive customers to your website at no cost.
Key takeaways
Free listings appear on the Shopping tab at no cost per click.
They read the same Merchant Center feed as paid Shopping ads.
No auction means no bids, no budget and no prioritisation.
Why is this the correct answer?
Free listings show products on the Shopping tab at no cost per click, giving retailers visibility that does not depend on budget. They are generated from the same Merchant Center product data as paid Shopping ads, so a clean feed serves both. Because they sit outside the ad auction there is no bidding, no budget and no way to prioritise particular products — free reach in exchange for control.
Why are the other options wrong?
Free product listings are paid Shopping ads that are converted due to low impressions and clicks.
Paid ads are never demoted into free listings. They are separate surfaces reading the same feed.
Free product listings use product information directly from the website to curate no cost ads without a product feed.
A Merchant Center feed is still required. Google may supplement it with data from your site, but it is not curated from the website alone.
Free product listings participate in an ad auction and offer insights and controls to optimize performance and prioritize key products.
Auction participation and performance controls describe paid Shopping. Free listings have neither.
Frequently asked questions about this topic
Do I need to do anything extra to appear in free listings?
The requirements mirror paid Shopping: a valid feed with accurate price and availability and compliance with the Shopping policies. If your products already serve as paid ads, the work is largely done.
Topics in this question
About the Shopping Ads Certification
The Shopping Ads Certification checks that you can run retail campaigns end to end: product data in Merchant Center, linking it to Google Ads, and choosing between Standard Shopping and Performance Max to drive sales and value.
Exam guide and all 407 Google Ads Shopping questions →Related Google Ads Shopping questions
- 1Which definition corresponds to a free product listing?Explained
- 2Which definition corresponds to a free product listing?Explained
- 3Which of these choices describes a free product listing?Explained
- 4You’ve owned a successful online retail business for 10 years. Recently, shopping behaviour has shifted, and shoppers are buying less each time. The product and marketing strategy hasn’t changed. Which two actions should you take? Choose two.Multiple correct
- 5You’re setting up a product feed in Merchant Center for the first time, and you realise that you don’t have availability for each product. What will happen if you try to upload the feed in Google Merchant Center?Explained
- 6Where would you go to opt in to the Product ratings programme?Explained