Why Google Perspectives Means E-Commerce Merchants Can No ... - Total Retail

Google’s Perspectives filter, which began rolling out in June this year, aims to point searchers to content from "real people" when it deems it helpful to their query. Searchers can click on the Perspectives tab in the search results to see relevant “long- and short-form videos, images, and written posts that people have shared on discussion boards, Q&A sites, and social media platforms.”

Google Sees the Value in User-Generated Content

This is Google recognizing the value of user-generated content (UGC). In effect, the search giant is increasing the role that UGC and creator content can play in search and discovery, which is often the start of many e-commerce shopping journeys. Perspectives gives searchers an alternative approach to gathering information to help them make informed purchase decisions.

Many retailers are already starting to incorporate visual UGC — i.e., the images and videos people share about their products — into their marketing. Especially in e-commerce verticals such as fashion and home furnishings, consumers like to see authentic visuals of products being used by real people — not just the branded images that feature models or studio show homes. For merchants, it’s also a way of saving money. They can supplement expensive photo shoots with a continuous stream of visual content from their customers.

The introduction of Google Perspectives increases the chance that visual UGC will appear in search results. This means that merchants can no longer...

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