Product is the Schema.org type for anything offered for sale. Google uses Product markup for two groups of features: product snippets, which add ratings and price details to regular results, and merchant listing experiences, which cover shopping surfaces for pages where users can buy directly. Requirements differ between the two, and Google documents them separately.
Product snippets versus merchant listings
Product snippets suit pages that describe or review a product, including editorial reviews and pages without a buy button. They require name plus at least one of review, aggregateRating or offers. Merchant listings are for pages where a shopper can purchase the product, and they require an offers object with price and more detail on availability, shipping and returns.
Product markup on SaaS sites
Software companies sometimes use Product for plans or add-ons. SoftwareApplication is usually a better fit for the software itself. Product makes sense for physical goods a SaaS company sells, such as hardware, or for editorial pages reviewing third-party products, where pros and cons markup can also apply.
Keeping data aligned with Merchant Center
Retailers that also send product feeds to Google Merchant Center should keep prices and availability consistent between feed and page markup. Google uses both sources and mismatches can cause disapprovals or confusing results.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"name": "Sensor Hub v2",
"image": "https://shop.flintmarsh.example/img/hub-v2.jpg",
"offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "149.00", "priceCurrency": "USD",
"availability": "https://schema.org/InStock" }
}Example
A SaaS company selling hardware
Flintmarsh sells a monitoring platform plus a physical sensor hub. The platform page uses WebApplication markup. The hub's store page uses Product with offers, availability and shipping details, making it eligible for merchant listing features, and its prices come from the same database as the checkout.
Common mistakes
Product markup on category pages
Google's guidelines call for Product markup on pages about a single product, not on lists of many products.
Ratings that are not on the page
Aggregate ratings must be visible to users and come from real reviews.
Questions
Yes, with a price of 0 in the offer. For free software, SoftwareApplication is usually the more accurate type.
