Managing your Google Shopping feed

Google Shopping, formerly Google Product Search and Google Products, is a Google service that allows users to search for products on online shopping websites and compare prices between different vendors. 

Google Shopping ads appear near the top of search results so shoppers that are have done their research see highly targeted and clear product offerings. These results are sponsored.

Another benefit is that such ads deliver a better user experience, which means better conversion rates. The whole user experience of Google Shopping is also a lot more streamlined than regular search ads.

However, on the Google Shopping page, your product listings may appear underneath sponsored results for free. That's where you want to be.

To display your products on Google in the Shopping tab you can create a data feed with your products, upload it to Google Merchant Center and manually build your ad campaigns in Google AdWords.

Tip: you will only have to do this action once if the product data in your feed meets Google data specification and policies.

Before you upload

Make sure to check the Google Merchant Center requirements before you start creating the feed.

The recent contact information

You need to display the correct contact information on your store website. This includes your physical address (even if you don't have a brick-and-mortar store), a phone number, and an email address. 

Refund Policy and Terms of Service

Ensure that you have a clear Refund Policy and Terms of Service on your store website. You can add this information to your store easily, learn how to create one for your Online Store: Adding legal pages to your Online Store

Secure checkout process

You need to make sure that your website is SSL-protected and operates through a secure connection (HTTPS://). 

Language and currency

When submitting your product data to Google Merchant Center, you need to use the language and currency that's supported for your target country. To understand what language and currency you must use, read this article with the list of currencies and languages by country.

Shipping and tax settings

To display correctly, your Google Merchant Center account must have the same shipping and tax (US only) settings as you have in your Online Store so that users understand the exact price they will have to pay, including the shipping and tax fees, from your Google Shopping Ads.

Verified site ownership

Prior to uploading your product data to Google Merchant Center, you are required to verify the ownership of your website and prove that you are an authorized owner of it. To do this, complete the following steps to verify your website in Google.

Editing product feed attributes

There is a number of attributes that should be included in your product feed so that your products can display in the Google Shopping ads. Make sure your products have these attributes added entered correctly, otherwise your products will be rejected by Google Merchant Center. 

Product brand

The attribute is required for each product with a clearly associated brand or manufacturer. This attribute is optional if the product is custom-made (e.g., custom t-shirts, art, handmade) or doesn’t have a clearly associated brand.

To add the Brand attribute to your product:

1. Go to your Catalog > Products.
2. Open the product you want to edit.
3. Navigate to the Attributes tab.
4. Fill out the Brand field.
   
   
5. Click Save to apply the changes.

GTIN or UPC

Ensure that your products have valid GTINs assigned, otherwise they won’t appear in the ads. GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) attribute is required for all products with a GTIN assigned by the manufacturer. This is the numerical value of the bar code. 

To add a GTIN or UPC attribute to your product:

1. Go to your Catalog > Products.
2. Open the product you want to edit.
3. Switch to the Attributes tab.
4. Fill out the UPC field.

1. Click Save to apply the changes.

Note: Some products don’t have a GTIN assigned, e.g. store brand products, replacement parts, custom-made products, art, and handmade items. For these products, it's enough to submit Brand and MPN attributes.

Manufacturer Part Number

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) is required for all products that cannot be assigned a GTIN number. The MPN can be an alphanumeric string, so if your products do not have the manufacturer-assigned MPN, you can use your product SKU number for this attribute.

To add an MPN attribute to your product, first, you’ll need to create a custom product attribute:

1. Go to your Settings > Product Types.
2. Type MPN in the text field for a custom attribute under the lines for UPC and Brand.

3. Choose Show from the drop-down menu.
4. Click Save to apply the changes.

Now you can add an MPN value for the product:

1. Go to your Catalog > Products.
2. Open the product you want to edit.
3. Switch to the Attributes tab.
4. Fill out the MPN field.
   
   
5. Click Save to apply the changes.

Gender, color, age group

Products submitted to the Apparel & Accessories require specific attributes such as gender, color, and age group. This would help your potential customers find your products easier in Google Shopping.

To assign these attributes to your products you need to create an Apparel & Accessories product type. Here's how you can do it:

1. Go to Settings > Product Types.
2. Click Add New Product Type.
3. Expand the category tree or use the search box to find the product type suitable for your items:
   
   
4. Click Add. You will see a list of attributes required for the set product type:

Now you can start filling out the attribute values:

1. Go to Catalog > Products.
2. Open the product you want to edit.
3. Switch to the Attributes tab.
4. Click Change type and select the new product type according to the product you are editing.
5. Add your attribute values into the new fields that appear.
   
   

6. Click Save to apply the changes.

Uploading your product feed to Google Merchant Center

Your Online Store automatically generates a data feed with your products that you can upload to your Google Merchant Center account and manually manage your ad campaigns in Google AdWords.

To generate a product feed for Google Shopping:

1. Go to your Sales channels > All Sales Channels > Google Shopping.
2. Click Generate Feed.
   
   
3. Select the Marketplace category where you want to submit your items.

Your feed will be generated within 10 minutes. When the feed is complete, you will see the feed URL that you can copy to the clipboard.

Copy the feed URL to add it to Google Merchant Center.

To upload the feed to Google Merchant Center:

1. Sign in to your Google Merchant Center account.
2. Navigate to Products > Feeds.
3. Click the New feed (Plus) icon.

4. Select the Target Country and Language and click Continue.
5. Enter the Feed name and select the Scheduled fetch upload. Click Continue.
6. Provide the Feed file name. Do not use the Feed URL for this field.
7. Set the Fetch frequency and the Fetch time. Keep in mind that Online Store regenerates the feed every 12 hours.
8. Set your Timezone.
9. Provide the Feed URL that you copied in your Google Shopping panel. Click Continue.

Allow Google a few minutes to fetch and process your feed. After that, you will be able to view the feed properties and check the errors if any.  

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