Originally published on The Searchless Journal
Something strange is happening on Google search results pages, and it is reshaping ecommerce in ways that most retailers have not noticed.
Google product packs, the horizontal carousels of product listings that now appear multiple times on a single SERP, have quietly become one of the most powerful sales channels in digital commerce. An analysis of 63,000 merchants across broad ecommerce keywords reveals a surprising finding: the brands winning in product packs are not the largest retailers. They are the specialists.
Camp Chef, a niche outdoor cooking brand, commands a 155,299-keyword footprint driving an estimated 2.6 million visits from product packs. That is more than many household names with ten times the marketing budget. Meanwhile, eBay appears across 874,621 keywords but converts that presence into only 3.2 million visits, a stunningly poor ratio.
The data flips conventional assumptions about ecommerce visibility. Size does not win. Specialization does. And discounting, the default lever most retailers pull, has zero correlation with product pack visibility.
The Scale of Product Pack Dominance
The dataset, compiled by Nozzle and analyzed by Search Engine Land, covers January 2025 through January 2026. It captures product pack appearances across a broad set of ecommerce keywords, tracking which merchants appear, where they appear in the carousel, and how those appearances translate to estimated traffic.
The numbers are striking:
- Some SERPs now return up to 60 individual organic product listings through multiple product pack modules.
- Product packs appear in search results for queries ranging from broad ("camping stove") to highly specific ("lightweight backpacking stove for high altitude").
- The horizontal carousel format means positioning matters enormously. Products visible without scrolling capture disproportionate clicks compared to those requiring a swipe.
This is not a minor SERP feature. Product packs have become a primary discovery and transaction channel for product-based searches. If your products do not appear in these carousels, you are invisible for a large and growing share of commercial intent queries.
The David vs Goliath Finding
The most surprising insight from the 63,000-merchant dataset is that product pack visibility is not dominated by the largest retailers. In fact, some of the biggest names are underperforming dramatically.
Consider the contrast:
| Merchant | Keyword Appearances | Estimated Visits | Efficiency Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Depot | 831,699 | 28.8M | High |
| Camp Chef | 155,299 | 2.6M | Very High |
| Fire Maple | 185,184 | 1.0M+ | High |
| eBay | 874,621 | 3.2M | Very Low |
| REI | 1,520,000 | Low (scroll-required) | Very Low |
Home Depot is the standout performer. With 831,699 keyword appearances driving 28.8 million estimated visits, it achieves one of the highest efficiency ratios in the dataset. Its products appear prominently in carousels, often in the first visible position, which translates directly to clicks.
eBay tells the opposite story. Despite appearing across 874,621 keywords, more than any other merchant in the dataset, it drives only 3.2 million visits. Why? Positioning. eBay listings frequently appear in positions that require scrolling, making them functionally invisible to most users who never swipe past the first few products.
REI presents another cautionary tale. The outdoor retailer appears across 1.52 million keywords, an enormous footprint. But the data suggests that many of these appearances require scrolling, pushing REI's listings into the invisible zone of the carousel. High appearance count, low actual visibility.
Why Specialists Win
Camp Chef and Fire Maple, both niche outdoor cooking and equipment brands, outperform their footprint size significantly. Here is why:
Category relevance. Product pack algorithms weight category expertise. When a user searches "camping stove," a specialist outdoor cooking brand carries more topical authority than a general marketplace selling everything from stoves to sneakers. Google's systems recognize that Camp Chef's entire catalog is relevant to the query, not just a single product buried in a massive database.
Feed quality. Specialist brands tend to have cleaner, more detailed product feeds. Complete attribute data (size, weight, material, fuel type) gives Google's algorithms rich signals for matching products to queries. Marketplace listings from eBay or Amazon often have inconsistent or incomplete attribute data across millions of SKUs.
Image standards. Product packs display product images prominently. Brands with high-quality, consistent product photography that meets Google's image requirements (white background, proper sizing, no watermarks) appear more compelling in carousel positions, improving click-through rates.
Review density. Niche products from specialist brands often accumulate concentrated review volumes on fewer SKUs, resulting in higher per-product review counts. A camping stove with 2,000 reviews on a specialist site outperforms the same stove with 200 reviews buried in Amazon's catalog.
Structured data consistency. Smaller catalogs are easier to optimize with consistent schema markup, accurate pricing, and real-time inventory signals. Google rewards this consistency with better carousel positioning.
The Discount Myth
One of the most actionable findings from the dataset: discount rate has no clear correlation with product pack visibility.
This challenges the default ecommerce assumption that lower prices drive better visibility. In product packs, the algorithm appears to weight relevance, feed quality, and review signals far more heavily than price competitiveness.
For ecommerce brands, this is liberating. It means you do not need to race to the bottom on price to win carousel placement. You need to win on data quality, category authority, and presentation standards instead.
The practical implication: invest in your product feed before you invest in discounting. A perfectly optimized feed with competitive pricing will outperform a discounted product with missing attributes, poor images, and inconsistent data.
How Product Packs Work
For readers unfamiliar with Google product packs, here is a quick primer:
Product packs are horizontal carousels of product listings that appear within Google search results. They show product images, titles, prices, merchant names, and ratings. Users can scroll horizontally to see more products, and clicking a product takes them directly to the merchant's product page.
Product packs differ from traditional Google Shopping ads in that they draw from organic product listings, not paid placements. They appear based on Google's assessment of query intent and product relevance, similar to how featured snippets appear for informational queries.
A single SERP can include multiple product pack modules, each targeting a different facet of the query. For a broad query like "outdoor cooking equipment," Google might show one product pack for grills, another for camping stoves, and a third for cookware. Each pack presents 5 to 10 products.
The carousel format means that only the first 3 to 4 products are visible without scrolling. Products in positions 5 through 10 exist in a visibility blind spot, similar to the second page of traditional search results. This is why eBay's massive keyword footprint translates to relatively low traffic: many of its appearances land in scroll-required positions.
Optimization Strategies for Product Packs
Based on the dataset's findings, here are evidence-based strategies for improving product pack visibility:
1. Prioritize feed quality over catalog size. A perfectly optimized feed for 500 products outperforms a sloppy feed for 50,000 products. Ensure every product has complete attributes, accurate pricing, real-time availability, and high-quality images.
2. Target category dominance. Instead of trying to appear across every possible keyword, focus on dominating your core category. Camp Chef wins by being the most relevant result for outdoor cooking, not by appearing for every tangentially related query.
3. Optimize for visible positions. Track which of your product pack appearances land in the first 3 carousel positions vs scroll-required positions. The former drives the vast majority of clicks. Improving your position by even one spot can significantly increase traffic.
4. Invest in product-specific reviews. Concentrate review generation efforts on your highest-visibility products. A few products with hundreds of reviews outperform many products with dozens of reviews.
5. Maintain image standards. White background, minimum resolution, multiple angles where possible. Google's image quality signals affect both carousel inclusion and positioning.
6. Monitor your product pack presence. Use tools to track which queries trigger product packs that include your products, and which queries trigger packs where you are absent. The gap between those two sets is your optimization opportunity.
The Bigger Picture: AI Visibility for Ecommerce
Product packs are one component of a broader shift in how ecommerce brands are discovered online. AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) are creating new visibility channels alongside traditional SERP features like product packs.
The brands that will thrive in this new landscape are those that optimize across all discovery surfaces:
- Traditional organic search
- Google product packs
- Google AI Overviews
- ChatGPT product recommendations
- Perplexity commerce answers
- Agent-driven commerce (WebMCP and similar protocols)
Each surface has different optimization requirements, but they share common principles: structured data, authoritative content, clear entity signals, and consistent brand information.
Bottom Line
Google product packs have become a primary sales channel, and the data shows that specialist brands can outperform retail giants through superior feed quality, category relevance, and positioning. Discounting does not drive product pack visibility. Data quality does.
For ecommerce brands, the action items are clear: audit your product feed quality, track your carousel positioning, focus on category dominance over breadth, and invest in the signals that product pack algorithms actually weight.
The 63,000-merchant dataset proves that you do not need to be the biggest retailer to win. You need to be the most relevant, best-structured, and best-presented option in your category.
Wondering if your products show up where it matters? Run a free visibility audit to see how your brand appears across Google product packs, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and more.
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