Earlier this year in April, Google announced that Google Shopping would now be free to US merchants with the scope to expand this worldwide in the future. They have now announced that this will be available to merchants in Europe, Asia and Latin America by mid-October.

Google stated “Just as we don’t charge sites to be part of the Google Search index, listings for participating retailers are eligible to appear in these results at no cost to them. Paid listings will continue to appear in ad slots and will operate in the same way as Shopping ads do today.”

Merchants in the UK who wish to use this will need to head to their Merchant Centre account and ensure that you’re opt-ed into the Surfaces on Google programme. This is the only way you’ll be able to show your products in relevant search results across Google Search, the Google Shopping tab and Google Images.

While the qualifying criteria for this are still unclear this further enhances Google’s offering and appeals to both sellers and consumers. And this does mean that online shop owners can now reach millions of people for free, changing the online advertising landscape.

You can read our initial news story on this here but we’ll be keeping an eye on this and will release more information soon.