The ability to promote products for free is currently only available to merchants in the U.S., but will also eventually roll out to those in the UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany.

How it works. Microsoft Shopping Campaigns customers do not need to take any action to participate and all approved product offers in Microsoft Merchant Center are automatically opted into free product listings. Clicks from the Product Listings section of the Shopping tab are free; retailers do not need to pay Microsoft for them.

Microsoft encourages merchants to submit detailed product feeds as a data source for these organic listings. Merchants that do not wish to participate can opt out from the Settings page of their merchant center store.

No reporting available at launch. Reporting is not currently available for free product listings, but basic metrics, such as clicks and impressions, will be released this fall.

Why we care. Showing products for free may enable merchants to get their inventory in front of more shoppers. A wider selection of products may also help Bing attract more shoppers to its platform.

Google Shopping opened up to free product listings earlier this year. Bing following suit may help it compete with Google and Amazon.

As we’ve said before, “merchants that want to ensure prominent visibility in the search results, now more competitive with more products eligible to show, will continue to pay for ads. For e-commerce marketers and SEOs, the move adds a new layer to organic product search optimization efforts.”