You search for your best seller, and the shop beside yours shows a sale price, star ratings and a free shipping line. Yours shows a title and a price. For a small business counting on Google Shopping free listings, that gap is easy to read as proof that the other shop is paying for something you are not.
Paid ads are not the switch. The details on a Google or Bing product listing come from the product data you submit to Merchant Center, plus the shipping and return settings on that account. Each missing detail usually traces back to one field, one setting or one review source.
You can find yours this week. Pick one product, compare it with the listings next to it, and match each gap to the field behind it. No feed change can promise stars, a free-shipping label, a ranking or traffic, but clean data gives Google and Bing what they need to show your details.
Key Takeaways
Submit price with the regular price and sale_price with the sale price, plus sale_price_effective_date for the dates. Putting "sale" in the title creates nothing.
Google asks for reviews shared through an approved aggregator or a Merchant Center reviews feed, matched by identifiers, and generally at least 50 reviews across your catalog.
Eligible products can appear on Google and Bing for free, but each platform decides which eligible details to show for a given search.
Match the visible gap to the named field, fix it, resubmit and wait for the next update. Leave bids alone while the cause is a wrong price, a missing image or a disapproval.
If you do not offer free shipping, a sale or a broad return policy, submit what you do offer. Bing ratings depend on what your Microsoft Merchant Center account supports.
Find the field behind each missing detail
Google says it uses submitted product data to match your products to the right queries and to decide which details can appear in ads and free listings. That makes your listing a readout of your data. Search Google Shopping for the exact name of your best seller, then record what you see on your listing and on the two listings beside it.
| Detail on the listing | Field or setting behind it |
|---|---|
| Title | title |
| Main image | image_link |
| Regular and sale price | price, sale_price, sale_price_effective_date |
| In stock or not | availability |
| Shipping cost or free shipping | shipping, or the shipping settings on the account |
| Return details | Return policy settings, and return_policy_label for exceptions |
| Star rating and review count | A separate review source matched by gtin, or brand plus mpn |
| Short product facts | product_highlight |
| Paid ad or free listing | Not a field; note it so you compare like with like |
Next, open Merchant Center, go to Products, and look at the same product under Needs attention. Compare what shoppers see with what you submitted and with your own product page. The comparison shows the gap; the diagnostics show whether the cause is the data, eligibility, matching or a display choice the platform made. Google's product data specification lists every field in full.
Get your sale price to show without touching the title
A sale price is two fields working together. Submit price with the regular price and sale_price with the temporary price, and add sale_price_effective_date to set when the sale starts and ends. A sale price sent without the regular price, or with a bad date, is one of the usual reasons the markdown never appears. The price on your product page and at checkout has to match what you submitted.
The title does a different job. It should name the product plainly, with its type, brand, model and variant, and it should not carry sale talk or free-shipping phrases. Words like those in a title do not create a badge, and stuffing in extra keywords does not earn more visibility. Loyalty pricing is a separate feature, covered in our post on Google Merchant Center loyalty pricing.
Your main image and your highlights matter as well. Google lists low-quality or inaccessible images among its common data problems, and promotional images are another. For highlights, Google recommends four to six short facts per product through product_highlight. They should describe the product, not the price, the shipping, your company history or a promotion, and they should not be keyword lists.
Earn star ratings with a review source Google can match
Stars are not built from the review text on your product page. Google shows product ratings when reviews reach it through an approved reviews aggregator or a Merchant Center product reviews data source. Google says merchants generally need at least 50 reviews across their products, and the reviews must be owned by the retailer or come through an approved exception.
Each review needs a usable product URL and a way to match it to the right product, which means a gtin, or a brand plus an mpn. Google filters reviews and does not promise that every rating appears. The eligibility requirements spell out the rest.
So, if a competitor shows stars and you do not, check three things in order: whether you have a compliant review source, whether it has reached about 50 reviews across the catalog, and whether your identifiers are valid. Never invent a gtin to make a match work. On Bing, confirm what your Microsoft Merchant Center account supports for ratings before you promise them to anyone.
Put shipping and returns beside your price
Shipping details come from the shipping settings in Merchant Center or from the shipping attribute on each product. In the United States, shipping information is required for free listings, so a listing with no shipping line is worth checking first. Return details are added under Shipping and returns in Merchant Center, and Google's returns guidance says they should match the return policy on your public website. Google may show them on listings, ads and Gmail.
Use return_policy_label when one product follows a different rule from the rest. Then compare what you submit with what you really do. If you do not offer free shipping, a sale or a long return window, the fix is not to copy the competitor's line. Submit your true terms, and clear ones can still help a shopper decide.
Show up free on Google and Bing without buying ads
You do not need a paid campaign for free listings. Google says new Merchant Center accounts are generally opted into free listings by default. The fields it commonly requires are id, title, link, image_link, price and availability. Eligible products may appear across Google Search, the Shopping tab, Images, Maps, Lens, YouTube and Gemini, according to Google's free listings page. Eligibility gives your products permission to show; it is not a promise of impressions.
Bing works the same way in outline. Microsoft Product Listings are free placements in the Bing Shopping tab. You need a verified and claimed website, a Microsoft Merchant Center store, an approved catalog and compliant offers. Approved offers are generally eligible automatically, subject to your store settings and market availability, so confirm your market in your Microsoft Advertising account.
The offer fields differ in name from Google's. Microsoft's products resource lists offerId, availability, price, link, imageLink, brand, gtin and mpn, so use each platform's own field names and policies. If you are still setting up, start with our post on Google Merchant Center setup for a small online store. Whether Bing deserves your time is a separate question, taken up in is Bing worth it for a small business.
Fix disapproved and limited products in a sensible order
On Google, open Merchant Center, go to Products and then Needs attention. Status icons show whether an item is showing, limited or not showing. Open the issue details to see the affected attribute, product, country or policy. Correct the problem in the feed, the website, the structured data or the account, then resubmit or wait for the next scheduled update. Use a review request only after the underlying issue is fixed, as Google's product management help describes.
On Microsoft, check the store, the catalog and the offer statuses. Microsoft separates warnings from disapprovals: a warning may not stop delivery, while a disapproved offer does not serve. A rejected store may need website verification, SSL, checkout or policy problems cleared first, per the store status page.
| Gap | Fix | Typical job size |
|---|---|---|
| Price or availability mismatch | Correct the feed, page, structured data or checkout, then resubmit | Small to medium |
| Bad image | Replace the main image and confirm it can be reached | Small |
| Weak title | Rewrite using product type, brand, model and variant | Small |
| Missing shipping | Set account shipping or submit shipping values | Small to medium |
| Missing identifiers | Add valid brand, gtin or mpn; never invent them | Small to medium |
| Sale price problem | Submit price, sale_price and dates consistently | Small |
| Return policy problem | Fix the Merchant Center policy and the website wording | Small |
| Rating problem | Add a compliant review source and fix matching | Medium |
| Microsoft store rejection | Correct verification, SSL, checkout, policy or catalog errors | Medium to large |
Work from the top of that table down. It is an order of attention for a small shop, not a measured ranking of which errors are most frequent. Leave bids and ad budgets alone while the cause is a wrong price, a missing image or a disapproval, because more spend on a broken offer only shows the break to more shoppers.
Know when one product is yours to fix and when help pays off
One product with one gap is a job for you. Do the comparison, find the field, fix it, resubmit and give the platform time to refresh. The work is usually data and catalog upkeep, not a website redesign.
Outside help makes sense when the same errors keep returning across many offers, variants, countries, inventory feeds or review feeds, or across both platforms. What that help provides is catalog accuracy, diagnosis and synchronization, so your store, feed, shipping, returns and reviews stay aligned. It cannot buy you stars, a free-shipping label, a ranking or traffic, so be wary of anyone who offers them.
Can you find the field behind the listing?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. A competitor's listing shows a sale price and yours does not. Where is sale pricing set?
2. What does Google generally need before it can show star ratings on your products?
3. Your best seller has a price mismatch in Needs attention. What comes first?
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Shopping Free Listings for a Small Business
Why does my Google Shopping listing show only a title and a price?
The other details may be missing, ineligible, unmatched or not selected for that listing. Check image_link, shipping, returns, product identifiers and the diagnostics under Needs attention.
Can I get Google Shopping free listings without paying for ads?
Yes. Eligible products can appear through free listings, and new Merchant Center accounts are generally opted in by default. Eligibility is not a guarantee of impressions.
How do I show a sale price?
Submit price with the regular price and sale_price with the sale price, and add sale_price_effective_date if you want set dates. The product page and checkout must show the same prices.
How many reviews do I need for star ratings?
Google generally needs at least 50 reviews across your products, shared through an approved aggregator or a Merchant Center reviews feed and matched by identifiers.
How do I list products on Bing for free?
Verify and claim your website, create a Microsoft Merchant Center store, get your catalog approved and submit compliant offers. Confirm market availability in your account.
Why is my product disapproved?
Open the issue or status details on the platform. Common causes include inaccurate prices, missing identifiers, poor images, policy problems and conflicts between the feed and the website.
Wrapping Up
Your listing is a readout of your data. Titles, images, prices, sale prices, availability, shipping, returns, highlights, identifiers and a matched review source decide which details are eligible to show, and Google and Bing then pick what to display for each search. Compare one best seller with its neighbors, open Needs attention, and fix the field behind each gap.
Clean, matching data across your store, feed and account means fewer disapprovals, less repeat cleanup and a listing that gives shoppers what they need to decide. It will not guarantee stars, labels, rankings or traffic, but it removes the avoidable reasons your listing looks thin.
If the same errors keep coming back across many products or both platforms, Web Leveling can help. Our search engine optimization work covers product-page clarity, technical consistency and catalog accuracy, and we will tell you if one product is a job you can do yourself. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us which products look thin, and we will help you trace each gap to its field.
Terms
Shopping listing words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
Merchant Center. The account where you submit product data, shipping and return settings, and where you check product status on Google or Microsoft.
Product feed. The file or connection that sends your product data to a Merchant Center account.
Free listing. A product placement on Google or Bing that needs no ad spend, shown when the platform decides your eligible product fits a search.
sale_price. The temporary price you submit alongside the regular price, with sale_price_effective_date for the dates.
gtin. A product's global trade item number, one of the identifiers used to match products and reviews.
mpn. A manufacturer part number, used with brand when a gtin is not available.
Disapproved. A product status meaning an offer cannot show until the named problem is fixed.
