Google needs the Product Price

[lesliekirk]

Google isn't indexing products because the customer must log in before they can see the price. The site is (still) using Google Rich Snippets and this had been put in place:

<mvt:if expr="g.basket:cust_id GT 0 AND g.customer:pgrpcount GT 0">
<meta itemprop="price" content="&mvte:product:formatted_price;" />
<mvt:else>
<meta itemprop="price" content="Login" />
</mvt:if>

All Google sees is

<meta itemprop="price" content="Login" />

Obviously, Google isn't an authorized customer so it can't log in. Of course, the store owner doesn't want the prices shown. How do you go about getting the products indexed without a price? Is there something other than "Login" that can be used?

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Create a "google_price" custom field. Populate that with the price shown to customers when they log in. Change the schema coding to "if google_price, Use ifnot use price."

[lesliekirk]

Create a "google_price" custom field. Populate that with the price shown to customers when they log in. Change the schema coding to "if google_price, Use ifnot use price."

Unfortunately, no price can be displayed for the product. Any dollar amount that goes into the meta price will get picked up by Google.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Unfortunately, no price can be displayed for the product. Any dollar amount that goes into the meta price will get picked up by Google.

What I'm proposing would change the Meta Price to be the price in the custom field. So, google should see this price but customers wont (unless they view source of the page).

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Here's something from Google Help pages:

If a product price can only be seen by logged-in customers on your website, for Google page feeds, you should either not include the price at all or use a placeholder price that clearly indicates the price is only visible after login; this is usually done by stating "Login to see price" or a similar message in the price field of your product feed, ensuring you comply with Google Merchant Center guidelines about price transparency.
Key points to remember:

• Do not submit a misleading price:
  Never submit a fake price just to show something on the feed; Google will penalize you for this inconsistency.
• Use the "price" attribute correctly:
  If you choose to use a placeholder price, make sure to include the appropriate "price" attribute in your product feed with the placeholder text.
• Consider alternative options:
  • "Contact for price": If the price is highly variable depending on customer needs, you might use "Contact for price" in the price field.
  • "Price upon request": Similar to "Contact for price", this indicates the need for customer interaction to get a price

[lesliekirk]

Here's something from Google Help pages:

If a product price can only be seen by logged-in customers on your website, for Google page feeds, you should either not include the price at all or use a placeholder price that clearly indicates the price is only visible after login; this is usually done by stating "Login to see price" or a similar message in the price field of your product feed, ensuring you comply with Google Merchant Center guidelines about price transparency.
Key points to remember:

• Do not submit a misleading price:
  Never submit a fake price just to show something on the feed; Google will penalize you for this inconsistency.
• Use the "price" attribute correctly:
  If you choose to use a placeholder price, make sure to include the appropriate "price" attribute in your product feed with the placeholder text.
• Consider alternative options:
  • "Contact for price": If the price is highly variable depending on customer needs, you might use "Contact for price" in the price field.
  • "Price upon request": Similar to "Contact for price", this indicates the need for customer interaction to get a price

Google sometimes doesn't know what it's doing - it's "failing" any product that is submitted without a price. In other words, it's looking for a numeric value or it gives an error:

r9zQLb.png

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

You may need to be populating another value other than 'Price'. Look at the options under the "offers" section.

[lesliekirk]

You may need to be populating another value other than 'Price'. Look at the options under the "offers" section.

FWIW - I've been down this rabbit hole every which way but loose. The produce price cannot be displayed in any manner due to the contractual obligations of the wholesaler. With that in mind, I recommended that the products be noindex,nofollow so that Google does not attempt to list them as products in Google Shopping.