Tag Archives: shopping

Country targeting update for products in Content API for Shopping and Google Ads API

On August 10, 2022, we announced a change to country targeting for shopping products with the introduction of the feedLabel field. We’d like to update you on the progress of this change. Here are our previous announcements: What’s already changed

Google Ads:
Any Google Ads account can set the feed_label field in ShoppingSetting for Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. You can set feed_label in the Google Ads UI and the Google Ads API.

Merchant Center & Content API:
As of September 14th, 2022 we‘ve started the gradual rollout of feed labels in the Merchant Center UI. When this feature is enabled in the UI, merchants will be able to create a new feed with feed label set to any valid string. See Use feed labels to advertise products from specific feeds for more information.

In the Content API, you might see the following:
  • Products that have only feedLabel, and not targetCountry, if they were added in the Merchant Center UI.
  • Products with feed labels that aren’t two-letter country codes.
You can now use Products.update to update products by feedLabel. For example, if you had a product with offerId of “111111111” and a feedLabel set to “WINTERPRODUCTS”, you can now update attributes such as salePrice for that product by making the following call:
HTTP request:

PATCH https://shoppingcontent.googleapis.com/content/v2.1/{merchantId}/products/online:en:WINTERPRODUCTS:1111111111
Example request body:

{
  "salePrice": {
    "value": "17.99",
    "currency": "USD"
  }
}
Behavior summary:
Here’s a clarification of the current API behavior for feedLabel:
  • Insertion: You can only call Products.insert on products with a matching feedLabel and targetCountry. Currently, Products.insert might return an error if you don’t provide a matching targetCountry. This behavior hasn’t changed if you continue to use only targetCountry.
  • Targeting: If you set feedLabel to a valid 2-letter CLDR territory code, you must still set the shipping attribute of the products resource to the same country in order to target that country. For example, if you set a new feedLabel to “US”, you must also set the country field in the shipping attribute to “US”. If you don’t set both fields, the product might not be eligible to serve in that country. You can configure targeting for an entire feed in the Merchant Center UI.
  • Get/List: When you use Products.list or Products.get, you might see products that only have feedLabel (and not targetCountry) set if they were added in the Merchant Center UI.
  • Product IDs: Once a feedLabel is set for a product it becomes part of the product Id. This means you can’t modify the feedLabel for that product (this is similar to how language works). If you wish to change the feedLabel you will need to create a new product with a different product Id.
What’s coming next

Products:
Once the gradual rollout of feed labels in the Merchant Center UI is complete, we will accept Products.insert calls with feedLabel set to any string. At this point, including targetCountry will become optional.

Datafeeds:
In late September, we will also update the datafeeds resource to include feedLabel in the Content API for Shopping.

Opt out of receiving products and datafeeds without a country
If you’re concerned your codebase cannot handle products and datafeeds without a country, and you want to opt out of receiving them via the Content API for Shopping, fill out the following form: Feed label replaces target country in the Content API for Shopping - temporary exemption. When you’re ready to support feedLabel, you can opt back in to receiving these offers.
If you have any questions about this change, please visit the Content API for Shopping forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Content API for Shopping Team

Country targeting in Shopping Ads campaigns is changing in August 2022

We’re starting a phased rollout of a change to country targeting in Google Ads and Merchant Center. The rollout has already begun and will continue into September.

See Feed label replaces target country in Content API for Shopping for how this change impacts the Content API for Shopping.

When the change reaches you, you’ll be able to set the feed_label field in ShoppingSetting for Shopping & Performance Max campaigns in the UI and API. Due to this change, you may begin seeing campaigns with feed_labels set in the UI and API for certain merchants. Campaigns with feed_label not set to a 2-letter CLDR territory code can serve ads in any country as long as the campaign has the appropriate geoTargeting and the appropriate target countries are set in Merchant Center.

This change doesn’t impact the countries targeted by existing shopping feeds. You don’t need to update existing shopping feeds or campaigns.

What’s changing in Merchant Center
Today, Google Merchant Center feeds require you to select a primary country of sale target (sales_country in Google Ads API), with the option to provide additional target countries once the feed has been created. Starting in August 23, 2022, we will make the following changes to how target countries are organized in the Merchant Center UI:
  • The primary country of sale option will be removed in Google Merchant Center. Country of sale will be replaced by the more generic feed_label that can accept any string, including any existing 2 letter CDLR country code.
  • The current additional countries field will be renamed target countries, and will include all countries you want the feed to target.
What’s changing in Google Ads UI and API
The current sales_country field for all available Shopping campaign types, including Performance Max, will eventually be replaced by feed_label. Note that we will keep the sales_country field for backwards compatibility until at least Q2 2023. Right now, you can continue to use sales_country in your campaigns.

You can create a feed_label in Google Merchant Center or the Content API. Feed labels let you group different offers according to a common trait, like language (or a country, as you’ve currently been doing). You can also use feed_labels in Google Ads campaigns to target the relevant offers (all products with the same Merchant Center feed label).

The ads for the offers that match the feed_label will show based on the following:
  1. The countries you selected as target countries in Merchant Center.
  2. Your campaign’s geo targeting. Note: The default campaign targeting behavior (if you do not geo target) is that your products will serve in all your Merchant Center target countries.
How you’re impacted
The phased rollout to enable this feature in Google Ads UI and API has already started, and is expected to be complete by the end of September 2022. For existing feeds, feed_label will automatically be set to the two-letter territory code of the existing sales_country field to avoid interrupting existing targeting.

However, if you want to support new users or new feeds that only have a feed_label and not a sales_country field, we recommend you update your code by August 23, 2022 to accommodate customers who will use campaigns that only have a feed_label (without a sales_country).

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.
Benji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

Feed label replaces target country in Content API for Shopping

On August 23, 2022 we will gradually start updating the way country targeting works for shopping products. As a result, the targetCountry field for newly inserted products and the country field for new datafeeds may be empty in the Content API for Shopping. While targetCountry and country are now deprecated, there are no plans to remove these fields from v2.1 to preserve backward compatibility. We recommend using feedLabel to name new products and feeds, and using the shipping field to specify the countries to target.

If you're accessing accounts whose product data you don’t have total control over and you are unsure whether the products or datafeeds will have ONLY a feedLabel field beginning in late August, we recommend you update your code to support the feedLabel field.

This upcoming change might impact or break your API integration if your application cannot handle products without a targetCountry or datafeeds without a country.

See Country targeting in Shopping Ads campaigns is changing in August 2022 for how this change will impact Google Ads.

What’s already changed
On August 8, 2022, the Content API for Shopping added the feedLabel field to the products resource. As of August 8, 2022, feedLabel can only accept and return two-letter CLDR territory codes. Products now require either targetCountry or feedLabel. As long as the feedLabel set is a valid two-letter CLDR code, targetCountry will be backfilled for compatibility.

We have changed the definition of the product identifier (the id, i.e. the REST ID). feedLabel now replaces targetCountry as the third component of the identifier, so it is no longer just a valid two-letter CLDR code. You can find an example shown here.

This change to product identifier is backwards compatible, so existing REST IDs for existing products will continue to work without change.

Important: feedLabel doesn’t impact targeting. This means if you use feedLabel instead of targetCountry, you need to specify all countries you want to target in the shipping attribute.

What’s coming next
We’re starting a gradual rollout to all users on August 23, 2022. When the upcoming change reaches you, you’ll be able to create a product or datafeed with any string (not just a two-letter CLDR code) as the feedLabel via the API or the Merchant Center. You’ll still be able to use a two-letter country code in targetCountry for backwards compatibility.

After the upcoming change, if you submit a feedLabel that isn’t a CLDR territory code, the API will return those products without a targetCountry or those datafeeds without a country. Instead, only their feedLabel will be populated. This may break your codebase if your implementation expects a value in targetCountry for products or a value in country for datafeeds.

How you’re impacted
Products
If you continue inserting your products with a targetCountry, you are not required to make any changes at this time, as the feedLabel value in the products REST ID will be identical to the targetCountry you inserted.

However, if you use a feedLabel in Merchant Center or the API that is not a CLDR territory code, we highly recommend you update your codebase to use feedLabels on all product insertions instead of targetCountry to avoid issues with your API integration.

All products inserted with a feedLabel instead of targetCountry, even if the feedLabel is a CLDR territory code, will not automatically target that country. You must explicitly set the countries you want to target via the shipping field.

Datafeeds
Note that starting August 23, 2022, feed label will replace the current country of sale value in the Merchant Center UI. The Content API will be expected to support this change via the datafeeds service starting mid-September. These new datafeeds will only have the feedLabel field set, not the country field, unless you explicitly set the feedLabel to a CLDR territory code.

To support new users, we highly recommend you update your codebase to use feedLabels on all datafeeds instead of country to avoid issues with your API integration.

Recommendation for third party integrations
If you’re a third party or agency that manages your customers' accounts for them, we highly recommend you check your codebase is able handle products without a targetCountry and datafeeds without a country before August 23, 2022.

After the gradual rollout starting in late August, your merchants will be able to modify products directly in Merchant Center to create a product with a feedLabel that is not a valid two-letter CLDR territory code. When this product is returned via products.list, you could encounter issues if your implementation expects a value in targetCountry.

As well, after the gradual rollout in late August, new users will create datafeeds that by default have a feedLabel and no country field. When this datafeed is returned via datafeeds.list, you could encounter issues if your implementation expects a value in country.

How to detect if you have offers without a country in your Merchant Center account
  1. Make a request to products.list.
  2. Filter your products to search for products where the targetCountry field does not exist on the product.
  3. If any products appear, you have offers without a country in your Merchant Center.
Detailed Changes
To view a detailed breakdown of the changes to the Content API by this feature launch, see the guide here.

Datafeeds Service
Starting mid-September the datafeeds service will begin to return feedLabel on all datafeeds, which will be the country value if that is how the datafeed was created. The datafeeds service will also return the country field if the feedLabel is a valid country code for backwards compatibility.

Opt out of receiving products and datafeeds without a country
If you’re concerned your codebase cannot handle products and datafeeds without a country, and you want to opt out of receiving them via the Content API after August 23, then please fill out the following form: Feed label replaces target country in the Content API for Shopping - temporary exemption. Once you have fully supported feedLabel, you will be able to opt back in to receiving these offers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.
Benji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

Find back-to-school deals for 2000s throwback trends

This fall, for the first time in years, many students across the U.S. will return to the classroom in person. With a new (in-real-life) school year fast approaching, students and their families are already on the lookout for new gear: In fact, searches for “back to school supplies'' increased by 80% in the last month versus the same period last year, while searches for “back to school deals” grew 40%.

Two search bars show the queries “back to school supplies” and “back to school deals.” The “back to school supplies” bar has illustrations of a notebook, a calculator, pens and pencils, with the text “+80%” next to it in blue. The “back to school deals” bar has an illustration of a backpack with a price tag, with the text “+40%” next to it in green.

We looked into what items back-to-school shoppers are searching for and found that the early 2000s are having a moment. One of this season’s hottest shopping trends is the Y2K aesthetic — with butterfly hair clips, trucker hats and inflatable dorm furniture making a comeback.

So as you get ready for the school year, we’re sharing the top-trending Y2K back-to-school items and Google tools to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Top Y2K trends

Search interest for school supplies spikes every August in the U.S., and it's driven by searches for the usual suspects: file folders, pencil cases, notebooks and three-ring binders. This year, trending product searches are leaning into the Y2K style.

Back(pack) to the 2000s

As students head to the physical classroom, they’re ready to shop for the back-to-school staple: a brand new backpack. Searches for playful Y2K styles like “butterfly backpacks” spiked 190% over the last month and “metallic backpacks,” another iconic Y2K look, grew by 90% during the same period. Meanwhile, searches for “vintage backpack” reached a record high in the U.S. this month.

A clear favorite

Translucent and clear accessories were a trademark of early 2000s style. Now, the clear aesthetic is finding its way into school supplies: Searches for "clear post it notes" increased by more than 250% ahead of the back-to-school season, “clear bento boxes” are currently trending and searches for “clear pencil case” are at an all-time high.

Throwback threads

Y2K is also breaking through in back-to-school apparel trends. Search interest for “baggy jeans outfits” is up 650% this month, while searches for “claw clips,” “crochet top” and “trucker hats” are at an all-time high. You can also expect to see students sporting other early 2000s classics — like the “baby tee,” up 40% this year, and “butterfly hair clips,” up 80%.

Funky dorm decor

For students headed off to college, dorm room decorations are top of mind. Search interest for “Y2K room decor” increased 80% in the last month versus the same time period last year. Classic styles from the early 2000s are showing up in home goods — for example, searches for “smiley face rugs” increased 15% in the past month. Playful decor is on the rise too, with “inflatable furniture” searches up 10%, and “glow in the dark stars for ceiling” searches more than doubling over the past month.

Get the best back-to-school deals

Shoppers aren’t just looking for the coolest styles, they’re looking for the best deals. When you start back-to-school shopping on Google, our tools can help you find inspiration, research and compare products for the best value.

On sale filter

Tap the “on sale” filter when you’re searching for a back-to-school product on the Shopping tab to see recent price drops, deals and products on sale — making it simple to factor price into your search from the start.

Price insights

Ever wonder if you’re getting a good deal? Click into the product details page on Google Shopping for a price insights graph. It’ll show you whether a product price is high, low or typical compared to others across the web and in nearby stores.

Price tracking tool

If you’re getting a head start on shopping, our price tracking tool can help you monitor price changes leading up to the school year. When you find a product you’re interested in, tap the “Track Price” toggle on Google to get a notification when the price drops.

Find back-to-school deals for 2000s throwback trends

This fall, for the first time in years, many students across the U.S. will return to the classroom in person. With a new (in-real-life) school year fast approaching, students and their families are already on the lookout for new gear: In fact, searches for “back to school supplies'' increased by 80% in the last month versus the same period last year, while searches for “back to school deals” grew 40%.

Two search bars show the queries “back to school supplies” and “back to school deals.” The “back to school supplies” bar has illustrations of a notebook, a calculator, pens and pencils, with the text “+80%” next to it in blue. The “back to school deals” bar has an illustration of a backpack with a price tag, with the text “+40%” next to it in green.

We looked into what items back-to-school shoppers are searching for and found that the early 2000s are having a moment. One of this season’s hottest shopping trends is the Y2K aesthetic — with butterfly hair clips, trucker hats and inflatable dorm furniture making a comeback.

So as you get ready for the school year, we’re sharing the top-trending Y2K back-to-school items and Google tools to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Top Y2K trends

Search interest for school supplies spikes every August in the U.S., and it's driven by searches for the usual suspects: file folders, pencil cases, notebooks and three-ring binders. This year, trending product searches are leaning into the Y2K style.

Back(pack) to the 2000s

As students head to the physical classroom, they’re ready to shop for the back-to-school staple: a brand new backpack. Searches for playful Y2K styles like “butterfly backpacks” spiked 190% over the last month and “metallic backpacks,” another iconic Y2K look, grew by 90% during the same period. Meanwhile, searches for “vintage backpack” reached a record high in the U.S. this month.

A clear favorite

Translucent and clear accessories were a trademark of early 2000s style. Now, the clear aesthetic is finding its way into school supplies: Searches for "clear post it notes" increased by more than 250% ahead of the back-to-school season, “clear bento boxes” are currently trending and searches for “clear pencil case” are at an all-time high.

Throwback threads

Y2K is also breaking through in back-to-school apparel trends. Search interest for “baggy jeans outfits” is up 650% this month, while searches for “claw clips,” “crochet top” and “trucker hats” are at an all-time high. You can also expect to see students sporting other early 2000s classics — like the “baby tee,” up 40% this year, and “butterfly hair clips,” up 80%.

Funky dorm decor

For students headed off to college, dorm room decorations are top of mind. Search interest for “Y2K room decor” increased 80% in the last month versus the same time period last year. Classic styles from the early 2000s are showing up in home goods — for example, searches for “smiley face rugs” increased 15% in the past month. Playful decor is on the rise too, with “inflatable furniture” searches up 10%, and “glow in the dark stars for ceiling” searches more than doubling over the past month.

Get the best back-to-school deals

Shoppers aren’t just looking for the coolest styles, they’re looking for the best deals. When you start back-to-school shopping on Google, our tools can help you find inspiration, research and compare products for the best value.

On sale filter

Tap the “on sale” filter when you’re searching for a back-to-school product on the Shopping tab to see recent price drops, deals and products on sale — making it simple to factor price into your search from the start.

Price insights

Ever wonder if you’re getting a good deal? Click into the product details page on Google Shopping for a price insights graph. It’ll show you whether a product price is high, low or typical compared to others across the web and in nearby stores.

Price tracking tool

If you’re getting a head start on shopping, our price tracking tool can help you monitor price changes leading up to the school year. When you find a product you’re interested in, tap the “Track Price” toggle on Google to get a notification when the price drops.

Performance Max upgrade has started

As we announced in January and again in March, existing and future Smart Shopping campaigns (SSC) will automatically upgrade to Performance Max campaigns between July and September 2022. The self-upgrade started in April 2022. The automatic upgrade has commenced (related blog post) and should complete by September 30, 2022. This blog post adds details for our API developers.

Starting July 25, 2022, accounts without active or paused SSCs (including new accounts) will no longer be able to create SSCs.

Once an account with active or paused SSCs has been automatically upgraded from SSC to Performance Max, no new SSC creation will be permitted in any surface including the UI, the API, Google Ads Scripts or Google Ads Editor.

The Google Ads API v11 included a new UpgradeSmartShoppingCampaignToPerformanceMaxRecommendation recommendation type to allow developers to upgrade a given SSC to a Performance Max campaign. This can still be applied to an account that has not yet automatically upgraded.

As mentioned in the January blog post, Local campaigns will also be automatically upgraded to Performance Max. An upcoming release of the Google Ads API will include a new recommendation type to allow developers to upgrade an eligible Local campaign to a Performance Max campaign.

Additional information

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.

, Google Ads API Team

Merchant IDs as 64-bit in Content API for Shopping

In the Content API for Shopping, Merchant IDs are now 64-bit signed integers. Applications that integrate with the Content API must be able to handle ID values in that range.

Historically, Merchant IDs in the Content API for Shopping were within the maximum value of a 32-bit signed integer, but have recently exceeded this range. In order to avoid any issues, please make sure your applications are fully compliant with IDs within a range of 64-bit signed integer values.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.
Benji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

Building the future of marketing together

Technology is powering more business growth around the world than ever before. And new consumer behaviors are redefining the role technology plays in everyday life. We see this in the surge of video watch time, the rise of browsing behavior on Search and the growth in online shopping. There is opportunity in all of this.

With the right tools, you can meet your customers where they are today while building resilience for tomorrow — and Google is here to be your partner. Your insights and feedback are helping shape every investment we’re making across Google Ads.

Throughout Google Marketing Live, you’ll see the many ways we’re working to help you unlock growth for your business and navigate today’s rapidly shifting advertising landscape. Join us at 9:00 a.m. PT (12:00 p.m. ET) to hear about Google’s latest product innovations across Ads and Commerce. Here’s a preview of some of those announcements.

Reimagining the future of marketing across Search and YouTube

Consumers are turning to Google Search and YouTube more than ever for help with purchase decisions. In fact, we see over one billion shopping journeys happen across Google every day.[5bfc42]

When it comes to shopping on Google Search, we’ve made the experience more natural and intuitive. Categories like apparel have seen tremendous success as consumers explore information in more visual and browsable ways. Later this year, advertisers will be eligible to show new, highly visual Shopping ads to U.S. customers. These will be clearly labeled as ads and will be eligible to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page.

Reimagining Shopping ads in new, visually engaging search results (U.S.-only search results)

However, nothing can quite replace seeing a product in person or bringing it home to try out. Augmented reality (AR) on cameras gets us close, and shoppers are ready for it. More than 90% of Americans currently use, or would consider using, AR for shopping.[3396f7]Soon, merchants will be able to have 3D models of their products appear directly on Google Search, allowing shoppers to easily see them in their spaces.

Augmented reality in Search provides a fully immersive shopping experience

In the coming months, you’ll also be able to promote your loyalty benefits to potential customers in the U.S. when they’re shopping across Google. Loyalty programs represent a meaningful relationship between you and your customers, and soon you’ll be able to easily integrate them with Google Ads.

A mobile phone screen showing the search query “hair blow dryer brush.” One of the results shows a tag that says “Get free shipping and earn points.”

Showcase your loyalty benefits across Google to consumers in the U.S.

Using Performance Max campaigns — along with a product feed — you’ll be able to drive more online loyalty sign-ups across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps.

Starting today, your Video action campaigns and App campaigns will automatically scale to YouTube Shorts. YouTube Shorts now averages over 30 billion daily views — four times as many as a year ago — and we want to help you reach people immersed in this short-form content.[4cc29a]Later this year, you’ll also be able to connect your product feed to your campaigns and make your video ads on YouTube Shorts more shoppable. We've been experimenting with ads in YouTube Shorts since last year, and we’re now gradually rolling that out to all advertisers around the world. This is an exciting milestone for advertisers, and a key step on our road to developing a long-term YouTube Shorts monetization solution for our creators, which we'll share more about soon.

Product feeds on Video action campaigns will roll out to YouTube Shorts later this year

Delivering better results with automation and insights

The best way to unlock growth for your business is combining your data and marketing expertise with Google’s machine learning. This means building automated products that meet your objectives and are simple to use.

Performance Max campaigns are a powerful tool for helping you meet consumers where they are across Google channels. In fact, advertisers that use Performance Max campaigns in their account see an average increase of 13% total incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.[ee87c8][3b5bb4]Today, we’re announcing six upcoming additions:

1. More tools for experimentation, like A/B tests to see how Performance Max is driving incremental conversions.
2. Expanded campaign management support in Search Ads 360 and the Google Ads mobile app.
3. Support for store sales goals to optimize for in-store sales, in addition to store visits and local actions.
4. Maximize impact with burst campaigns for a set time period to help meet in-store goals during seasonal events.
5. New insights and explanations, including attribution, audience and auction insights so you know what’s driving performance.
6. Optimization score and recommendations so you can see how to improve your campaign.

Rothy’s, a sustainable brand known for its iconic shoes and accessories, turned to Performance Max to connect with customers across channels. As a result, they increased conversions by 60% and grew revenue by 59%.

Case study video where Rothy’s discusses their experience with Performance Max
10:25

Insights page uses machine learning to identify new pockets of consumer demand and provide personalized trend data. Only Google can surface these types of insights, based on the billions of searches we see every day and the millions of signals we analyze for every ad auction. Today, we’re introducing three new reports that will roll out over the coming months:

1. Attribution insights show how your ads work together across Google surfaces — like Search, Display and YouTube — to drive conversions.
2. Budget insights find new opportunities for budget optimization and show how your spend is pacing against your budget goals.
3. Audience insights for first-party data show how your customer segments, like those created with Customer Match, are driving campaign performance.

  • Screenshot of the attribution insights report with a bar graph titled “multi-touch conversion paths”

    Attribution insights show how your ads work together to deliver results

  • Screenshot of the budget insights report that highlights insights for a campaign

    Budget insights show how your budgets are pacing and identify optimization opportunities

  • Screenshot of audience insights report that highlights top performing audience segments

    Audience insights show which customer lists are driving performance

Building resilience in a shifting landscape

At Google we’re driven by a shared goal: to be the most helpful company in the world. But we know that our products can only be as helpful as they are safe. That's why we’re launching innovations like My Ad Center later this year to keep users in control of their privacy and online experience. People will be able to pick the types of ads they want to see more or less of, and control how their data informs ads they see across YouTube, Search and Discover.

Control your ads experience in My Ad Center

And these solutions can and should still work for advertisers. We can both advance privacy and continue supporting the ecosystem.

Join us at Google Marketing Live

What an extraordinary time to be in this industry — my team and I are humbled to be on this journey with you. It’s a big moment for all of us, and I know that we can meet it by working together.

Join us today at Google Marketing Live at 9:00 a.m. PT (12:00 p.m. ET) to learn more about these and other ads innovations and commerce announcements. We hope to see you there!

Ease back into your office routine with Google

As many people start returning to the office, we know there’s a lot to (re)figure out — like what to wear on the first day back, how long your commute will take and how to stay productive. So we’re sharing some tips for getting back into the office groove with a little help from Google products.

Rebuild a routine

Google Assistant Routines can help you automate tasks so you have less to do and think about before you head to work. Just say "Hey Google, good morning" and your Assistant can share news, weather or traffic updates, tell you what’s on your calendar, and even get your smart coffee maker started on your morning brew. You can create a Routine based on a specific schedule or when the sun rises or sets every day.

Commute with confidence

Whether you usually hop on public transit, get behind the wheel or hit the pavement, your commute may have changed since the pandemic — or, like me, you might have just forgotten how long it takes. Check Google Maps to find the ideal time to commute and the greenest route for an eco-friendlier way to get to work.

Trying to get to the office by a certain time? Set the time you’re departing or want to arrive by to see how long it’ll take you to get to your destination (and to avoid getting stuck in traffic). The “Leave on Time” feature in Google Assistant Routines can also remind you when to leave, giving you the extra nudge to head out the door.

Find your new food spot

Once you get there, Google Maps can help you find the best (and most efficient) lunch options near your office.

Use Maps’ popular times and live busyness information to see when restaurants are most crowded and which spots are likely to seat you immediately. To save even more time, you can also scan popular dishes and photos on the restaurant’s Business Profile in advance.

If you’re getting takeout, no need to miss a meeting waiting around for your delivery in your office lobby or at the restaurant. Live takeout and delivery status information lets you see the expected wait time, delivery fee and status of your order right from the Maps app — so you can make the most of your workday.

A phone screen shows the arrival time of a food delivery for a restaurant through Google Maps.

Style comfortably

Heading back to the office but not ready to dust off your work clothes? You’re not alone. In fact, “how to style sweatpants” and “work-appropriate leggings” have both been trending on Google.

Search on Google Shopping and filter by style, like joggers or leggings, to find your own office-ready sweats. Pair that with “comfortable shoes for work,” currently the most-searched shoe query, and you’ll find the perfect blend of your work-from-home and office styles.

Meanwhile, this season’s hottest work accessories are right at your fingertips. Nails are in the top-five fashion searches for back-to-the-office shopping. Check out the manicure options yourself on Google Shopping.

The fashion trends that are warming up for spring

When the weather changes, so do our fashion preferences. Out with the sweaters and flannel, in with the swimsuits and florals — to celebrate the closet switch-up, we’re sharing some interesting fashion trends and queries from Google Shopping. For starters, people are looking to history for inspiration: The most-searched fashion trends over the past 30 days in the U.S. are “80s fashion,” followed by “90s fashion,” “y2k fashion,” “2000s fashion” and “70s fashion.”

If you’re not ready for your closet to go back in time, there are a few other springtime-related search trends that might fit a bit better (pun intended) — starting with florals. (We know, we know: groundbreaking.)

“Sunflower bathing suit” is a breakout search over the past 30 days in the U.S., as is “floral handbag,” which saw a +140% spike over the same period of time. Nail art search trends included the phrases “sunflower,” “daisy,” “summer” and “spring,” as well.

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Here's how online shoppers are finding inspiration

Google is releasing new insights about how people find their inspiration to shop.

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And while it’s not a floral per se, the color green — which is definitely garden adjacent — is also having a moment: “Green glitter nails” spiked more than 130% over the past 30 days in the U.S. “Green Prada shoes” saw nearly the same rise (+100%) within the last month, too. Green was also the most-searched nail polish color, and the second-most popular color in searches for handbags after black. Which obviously raises the question: Is green the new black!? Keep an eye on spring fashion to find out.