Do 3D models help your products show up on Google?

What Google shows

Google Merchant Center is Google’s free tool for sending your product data to Google Search and Google Shopping. Its help pages describe a 3D feature. Google says a 3D model « can help shoppers view your product from different angles on Google Search », and that shoppers can « use augmented reality to view how your product looks in their space ». Augmented reality, or AR, places the product in the shopper’s room through the phone camera.

Where it shows matters. Google says the AR option, which it calls « view in your space », is available only in free listings for products with a 3D badge. Shopping ads can show the 3D model if you run Performance Max or Standard Shopping campaigns, but « AR experiences aren’t yet supported by Shopping ads ».

Who qualifies

Google limits the feature in two ways, by product type and by country.

• Product type. Google says the attribute can be used « for home goods and shoes only ». Furniture and lighting read as home goods. Google does not name wall art, so whether art qualifies is not confirmed.
• Country. The overview page says 3D and AR « are currently limited to products sold in the US, CA, AU, JP and IN ». The attribute page, read the same day, says it « is limited to products sold in the US ». The pages disagree, so check the current wording before you rely on it. Neither page lists the United Kingdom or any EU country.

How a model gets to Google

There are two documented routes.

The first is the Merchant Center product feed. You add the attribute virtual_model_link to each product, with a public link to a .gltf or .glb file. Google’s requirements are a recommended file size of 10 MB and no more than 15 MB. The link must be crawlable by Google, so your robots.txt file must not block it. Google says it reviews each model before it appears, « which may take up to 2 weeks ». Manufacturers can also send models through Google Manufacturer Center, but Google says models « must be present in Merchant Center to be displayed on Shopping ads ».

The second is structured data, a block of code on your product page that describes the product to search engines. Google’s guide to merchant listing structured data includes a 3D model. You link it with the subjectOf property and the 3DModel type, and « currently only models in glTF format are supported ». You can add at most one per product. The guide shows the markup but does not describe how or where Google displays it.

USDZ files, the format iPhones use, are not accepted on either route. Google accepts glTF and GLB only.

What Google says about engagement

Google’s overview page says 3D and AR products « often have strong customer engagement and receive more interactions compared to products with 2D images, which can help to increase quality clicks ». In a 2022 blog post, Google said that « people engage with 3D images almost 50% more than static ones ». Both are Google’s own statements about its own product. Neither says a 3D model changes where a page ranks.

What helps your product pages in Search in general

Some things on a product page are documented by Google as part of Search, whether or not you use 3D.

Product structured data

Product markup can make a page eligible for merchant listing experiences, such as the shopping knowledge panel, Google Images and product snippets. It can show price, availability, shipping and returns. Google also states plainly that it « does not guarantee that features that consume structured data will show up in search results ».

Images described in words

Google says the alt text, a short written description of an image, is « the most important attribute » for giving Google information about an image. Google uses it, along with computer vision and the page’s content, to understand what the image shows. Write it as a plain description of the product. Google warns that stuffing alt text with keywords can make a site look like spam.

Page speed and Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are three measures Google uses for how a page loads and responds. They are how fast the main content appears, how fast the page reacts to a tap, and how much the layout jumps. Google recommends that site owners « achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search », and says these metrics are used by its ranking systems. It also says there is no single page experience signal, and that it « always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par ».

A 3D viewer is heavier than a photo, so how it loads matters. Lazy loading, which means loading something only when it is about to be seen, is a common approach. Google recommends it for content further down the page, and warns against lazy loading content that is visible as soon as the page opens. It also asks that lazy-loaded content load when it enters the screen, without needing a click, since Google Search does not interact with pages. A product photo as a placeholder until the viewer loads keeps the page light.

How 3D helps you stand out on Google

A 3D model puts your product in front of shoppers in a way a photo cannot. In the countries Google serves, your products can show in 3D right in its free shopping results, and Google says 3D listings get more interactions. On your own page, a model that loads without slowing anything down, with clean product data and described images, follows Google’s guidance to the letter. That is the setup we install for every client.

In short

• Google shows merchants’ 3D models, with AR, in free listings for home goods and shoes, in a few countries that exclude the UK and the EU.
• Models reach Google through the Merchant Center attribute virtual_model_link, as glTF or GLB files of 15 MB at most.
• Product structured data can include one 3D model, but Google does not guarantee any display.
• Alt text and good Core Web Vitals are documented parts of Google’s guidance. Load the 3D viewer so it doesn’t slow the page.
• 3D listings get more interactions on Google, and a fast page is what Google asks for.

Roomhero installs 3D models on your product pages so they load without slowing the page, with the product markup and image descriptions Google documents. If you would like that done for you, get your first model free.