Google’s New Update on Return Policy Markup: What Ecommerce Stores Need to Know

Hey there, online store owners! Google just made an important change, and if you’re selling products online, you’ll want to pay attention to this one. Google now requires all ecommerce stores to specify which country their return policies apply to, and this needs to be added to your structured data.

So, why should you care? Well, if you want your store to continue showing up in search results with accurate return policy information, you need to update your structured data to reflect this new rule.

What’s Changing?

Before, you were able to include details about your return policy, like how many days a customer has to return an item or whether they’d have to pay for return shipping. But now, Google has specifically pointed out that you need to include the country where your return policy applies. This is an important update to help customers understand the exact terms, especially if you sell in multiple countries.

Here’s an example straight from Google’s updated documentation. This is how the structured data for a return policy should look:

json
Copy

“hasMerchantReturnPolicy”: {
“@type”: “MerchantReturnPolicy”,
“applicableCountry”: “CH”,
“returnPolicyCountry”: “CH”,
“returnPolicyCategory”: “https://schema.org/MerchantReturnFiniteReturnWindow”,
“merchantReturnDays”: 60,
“returnMethod”: “https://schema.org/ReturnByMail”,
“returnFees”: “https://schema.org/FreeReturn”
}

You can see that Google is asking you to clearly specify returnPolicyCountry and to use a two-letter country code (like “US” for the United States or “IN” for India). This helps clarify exactly where your return policies apply.

What Should You Do Now?

If you’re already using structured data for your return policy, now’s the time to review it and make sure you’re adding the returnPolicyCountry field. You’ll need to include the correct country code, which is usually just a two-letter abbreviation. Super simple, right?

Google also suggests adding a few other details to your structured data to make your return policy even clearer. For example:

1. merchant Return Days: How long customers have to return an item.
2. return Fees: Whether or not customers have to pay for return shipping.
3. return Method: How customers can return the product (via mail, in-store, etc.).
4. returnShipping Fees Amount: The cost of shipping a return (if applicable).

These fields make your return policy easier for customers to understand and help Google index it more effectively.

Check Your Work

After updating your structured data, make sure to double-check everything using Google’s Rich Results Test tool. This tool will let you know if your return policy is properly marked up or if there are any issues. It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on your store’s performance in Google Search Console to see how these updates are impacting your search visibility.

That’s it! With this change, it’s more important than ever to make sure your return policy is up to date. Take a few minutes to review and update your structured data so your store stays in the running with Google’s latest requirements.