Short answer. Create a free Google Merchant Center account, verify and claim your store's website, add your products with prices in AED that include 5% VAT, set up UAE shipping and a return policy, and fix any issues Google flags. Free listings can then show your products in the Shopping tab and elsewhere on Google at no cost, though Google doesn't guarantee they'll be shown.[1][2][3]
Why do marketplaces show up on Google Shopping and your store doesn't?
Usually because the marketplaces have submitted product data to Google through Merchant Center and your store hasn't, or has but with errors. Google can only show what it has been given.
We saw this clearly in November 2026, when we searched Google in the UAE for the name of one Dubai-based perfume brand. The Shopping panel and the Shopping tab were full of the brand's own products, sold by noon, Trendyol, Amazon.ae, Ounass and a perfume retailer. Not one result came from the brand's own website. That was true even where the brand's own price was the same or lower: one bottle was AED 79 on the brand's site and AED 89 on a marketplace. Google's AI Mode went further and told searchers the brand was "primarily available" on marketplaces.
From the outside we couldn't see the brand's Merchant Center account, but the most likely cause is that its store wasn't sending product data to Google, so its cheapest offer went unseen while resellers took the clicks. Search your own brand name on Google and open the Shopping tab to see if you have the same gap.
Can UAE stores use Google's free listings?
Yes. Google lists the United Arab Emirates as a supported country for Shopping ads and free listings, with the UAE dirham (AED) as the currency, and marks it as a country where the Shopping tab is available.[2] Arabic and English are both on Google's list of supported languages, and you can target a specific language group within a country.[2]
Free listings can appear in the Shopping tab, in Google Search results, in Google Images and Lens, and in some countries on YouTube. Google's help page also mentions Maps, Gemini and the products section of a Business Profile.[1] New Merchant Center accounts are opted in to free listings by default.[1]
How do you set up free listings, step by step?
Set up the account, prove you own the site, send product data, then add shipping and returns. In order:
- Create a Merchant Center account and add your business details. Use your real business name, full address, a working customer service URL, a valid phone number and an email on your own domain.[8]
- Verify and claim your website. Google accepts an HTML tag or file, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, email, or your ecommerce platform's own method. A URL can only be claimed by one Merchant Center account.[7] If an old agency or a reseller claimed your domain years ago, sort that out first.
- Add your products. On Shopify, the Google & YouTube channel syncs products to Merchant Center, but Shopify says it's only available for certain countries and currencies, so check your store's setup.[13] On WooCommerce, the Google for WooCommerce extension syncs your catalogue.[14] Custom stores can upload a feed file or connect through the Merchant API. The core attributes are ID, title, description, link, image link, price and availability.[1]
- Set up UAE shipping. Add a shipping service for the UAE in AED, with handling and transit times and costs that match your checkout.[4]
- Add your return policy. Enter your policy URL, return window, return methods and any restocking fee, so they match the page on your site.[5]
- Check the Free listings status and fix issues. Google shows product and account issues in Merchant Center. Fix them, then check again in a few days.
If you need a store that's built with clean product data from the start, our guide to ecommerce development in Dubai covers the platform choice.
What UAE-specific settings matter most?
Prices and currency. Google's price rules say that in the UAE, as in the UK, Australia and much of Europe, the price you submit must include VAT.[3] So a product sold for AED 100 plus 5% VAT goes into the feed as AED 105, the same figure the shopper sees. The amount and currency in your feed must match your landing page and checkout, and the price should show in the target country's currency on those pages.[3]
On shipping, Google warns that products may be disapproved if there's no shipping service in the product's currency.[4] Its help page on shipping doesn't mention the UAE specifically, and some advanced options (carrier-calculated rates, for example) are listed for other countries only, so a simple flat rate or free-over-a-threshold setup is usually the practical choice here.[4]
On returns, Google says adding a return policy in Merchant Center is optional, but your policy must be easy to find on your site, readable without logging in, and consistent with what you enter.[5] We'd add it anyway.
On language: Google confirms Arabic and English are supported.[2] It doesn't publish UAE-specific rules beyond that, so the safe approach is to keep each feed's language the same as the product page it points to.
Why aren't my products showing? A checklist
Most UAE problems come from mismatched data or missing trust details. Work through this list, which follows Google's own help pages:
| Check | What Google expects | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Website verified and claimed | Store URL verified, then claimed by your account only | [^7][^8] |
| Business details | Real name, full address, valid phone, domain email, contact page | [^8][^9] |
| Price matches the page | Same AED amount, VAT included, on product page and checkout | [^3] |
| Shipping set for the UAE | A shipping service in AED, close to your real checkout costs | [^4] |
| Returns policy page | Clear, easy to find, no login needed, matches Merchant Center | [^5] |
| GTIN, brand, MPN | Submit the GTIN if the product has one; own-brand items without one use brand and MPN | [^6] |
| Contact information on site | Visible contact details; a missing contact page can lead to a misrepresentation suspension | [^9] |
| No hidden terms | Total price including taxes and fees shown, at least one standard payment method at checkout | [^10] |
The GTIN line catches perfume and beauty brands often. Google says that if a product has a GTIN and you don't submit it, the product could be disapproved.[6] If you make your own products, you may not have one, and that's fine: use brand and MPN.[6]
What if Merchant Center verification fails in the UAE?
Check your business details first, then the identity step. When we searched Google UAE on 12 November 2026, a Google community thread from a UAE seller whose Merchant Center identity verification had failed ranked on page one, so you're not the only one.
Google's help page on missing contact information lists incomplete identity verification as one cause, and describes it as a mandatory process using government-issued IDs or business documents.[9] Your business details go in under Settings, then Business info.[9] Make sure the name and address match your trade licence and your website exactly. Google also warns there may be extra verification steps and a limit on how many reviews you can request,[9] so fix everything before you ask for a review rather than trying repeatedly.
Free listings or Shopping ads?
Start with free listings; add Shopping ads when you want more reach. Both run on the same Merchant Center data.[1][11]
| Free listings | Shopping ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | No cost to appear | Pay per click (cost-per-click)[^11] |
| Where | Shopping tab, Search, Images, Lens and more[^1] | Shopping tab, Images, beside Search results, optional partner sites[^11] |
| Control | Google decides when to show them[^1] | You set budget and bids in Google Ads[^11] |
| Needs | Merchant Center | Merchant Center linked to Google Ads[^11] |
Do free listings affect Google's AI answers?
They feed the same product data Google's AI shopping uses. In May 2025, Google said AI Mode shopping combines Gemini with its Shopping Graph, which then held more than 50 billion product listings, with over 2 billion refreshed every hour.[12] Google's free listings help page also lists Gemini among the places products can appear.[1]
Google hasn't published exactly how AI Mode picks products, so we won't promise placement. But the perfume brand above shows the downside plainly: when your store isn't in Google's product data, the AI answer describes you through other people's listings.
Written by Irfan Khan, Founder of Digitizer Marketing Management in Dubai.
