Google Gears Up to Recruit Merchants for Pay-For-Play Shopping in Advance of Holiday Season

As the crucial holiday e-tailing season approaches, Google is pulling out all the stops to get merchants on board to the new pay-for-play Google Shopping. The company announced that it will switch to all paid listings as of Oct. 17. Previously, Google product results were fueled by product feeds provided by merchants, at no charge. Back in May, Google announced Shopping results would come from paid product listing ads only, citing a need for more reliable and up-to-date data.