Similar to specialized displays for website owners existing on Google, such as Q&A and How-To schemas, Google has now revealed a new type of Structured Data for e-commerce website owners, supporting 3D and AR (Augmented Reality) models in product displays. This innovation promises to change online shopping experiences, offering more interactive and inviting product views.
A New Dimension to Product Displays
In Google’s latest update regarding structured data guidelines, the concept of 3D models and AR was introduced for the first time, along with how to seamlessly integrate them with other structured data and product descriptions on the website. Ultimately, this change aims to bridge information gaps and provide as much information as possible to the searcher directly from the search results page, without the need to enter a website (as long as there is no visual overload).
Currently, there are several types of structured data on Google, known as “rich results” in Google searches. These include: CreativeWork, Product, and Organization, and you can read more about how it works on Google Search Central.
Labeling 3D Models is now part of the structured data family, allowing website owners to embed code and increase their site’s click-through rate (CTR).
Google supports 3D models with and without textures, as well as building footprints in 2.5D without textures. The supported formats are:
- Textured 3D: .skp, .kmz (.kml + .dae)
- Textureless 3D: .shp, .skp, .kmz (.kml + .dae)
- 2.5D Textureless: .shp, .csv, .kmz (.kml + .dae)
Note: Data templates without geographic references such as .3ds and .max must be accompanied by geographic reference materials such as .kmz location markers or UTM coordinates.
Why Introduce 3D Models and How to Use Them for Marketing?
Google pays attention to high frequency, and the increasing prevalence of 3D models on e-commerce sites is noteworthy. As a result of their indispensable role – enriching product pages on e-commerce sites. So even though it’s still speculative to determine whether 3D models will faithfully serve searchers in search results, the potential is indeed intriguing. Beyond the visual enhancement in the Google user experience, the update also helps prevent search bias towards and preference for 3D content and provides website owners with a kind of positive reinforcement to improve the user experience on their site.
For consumers, the update allows for a personalized product illustration before it is actually purchased, as shown here (more information on embedding options):
As stated by Google:
“Sometimes 3D models appear on pages with multiple products and are not clearly related to any of them. This labeling allows website owners to link a 3D model to a specific product.”
For marketers, this new feature means more than just an aesthetic upgrade to product pages. It’s an opportunity that will allow those who want and can invest in 360-degree product photography to improve their placement on Google and the amount of space their site’s result will occupy on the search results page or SERP (in the near future).
3D assets are eligible for display in Shopping ads only if you have Performance Max campaigns or product-focused shopping campaigns.
Please note that the AR experience is still not supported by Shopping ads.
Source: AskPavel
