Google Shopping Feed

Google Shopping Feed

Overview

Google Merchant Center requires a product data feed with specific attributes to serve Shopping ads. Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce all have official Google integrations that handle feed generation automatically. This skill covers setting up the integration, optimizing feed quality (the primary Shopping ranking factor), and fixing common disapproval issues.

When to Use This Skill

• When setting up Google Shopping Ads for the first time
• When products are being disapproved in Merchant Center due to feed quality issues
• When price or availability in the feed is lagging behind the live website
• When optimizing feed titles and descriptions to capture more relevant search queries
• When managing feeds for multiple countries or currencies

Core Instructions

Step 1: Set up your Google Merchant Center account

1. Go to merchants.google.com and create an account 2. Verify and claim your store's domain under Business Information → Website (add a meta tag or upload a file to your store) 3. Accept the Merchant Center terms and policies 4. Link your Google Ads account: Settings → Linked Accounts → Google Ads

Step 2: Connect your platform to Merchant Center

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Shopify

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Sales Channels → + → Google & YouTube 2. Install the Google & YouTube channel 3. Connect your Google account and select your Merchant Center account 4. Under Product Feed, Shopify automatically syncs your entire catalog with all required attributes (title, price, availability, images, GTIN if provided) 5. Go to Google & YouTube → Overview to verify the feed sync status 6. Check Products → Issues in Merchant Center to see any disapproved products

Improving feed quality on Shopify:

• Ensure every product has: a clear title with brand + product name, a description, a main image, and the correct product type
• Add GTINs (barcodes) to products under Products → [Product] → Variants → Barcode — GTINs improve Shopping impression share significantly
• For Google product category: install Google Shopping Feed or Feedonomics app from the Shopify App Store to map Shopify product types to Google Taxonomy IDs

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WooCommerce

1. Install the Google Listings & Ads plugin (free, official Google plugin) from the WordPress plugin directory 2. Go to WooCommerce → Google Listings & Ads and connect your Google account 3. Complete the setup wizard — it creates the Merchant Center account if you do not have one and submits your feed 4. Products are synced automatically from WooCommerce; check Google Listings & Ads → Product Feed for sync status

For more control: install WooCommerce Product Feed Pro ($70/yr) — it gives you full control over feed attributes, custom labels, and supplemental feeds for promotions.

Add Google product category to WooCommerce products:

• Go to each product or product category in WooCommerce admin
• The Google Listings & Ads plugin adds a "Google Category" field — fill this in using Google's product taxonomy

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BigCommerce

1. Go to BigCommerce Admin → Channel Manager 2. Click Add a Channel → Google Shopping 3. Connect your Google Merchant Center account — BigCommerce automatically creates the feed at yourstore.com/xmlfeed.xml 4. Check Channel Manager → Google Shopping → Products for product status and disapprovals

For enhanced feed optimization: install GoDataFeed or Feedonomics from the BigCommerce App Marketplace.

---

Custom / Headless

Generate a standards-compliant XML feed endpoint that Google can crawl:

import { create } from 'xmlbuilder2';

export async function generateGoogleShoppingFeed(req: Request, res: Response) {
  const products = await db.products.findAll({
    where: { status: 'active' },
    include: ['variants', 'images'],
  });

  const root = create({ version: '1.0', encoding: 'UTF-8' })
    .ele('rss', { version: '2.0', 'xmlns:g': 'http://base.google.com/ns/1.0' })
    .ele('channel')
    .ele('title').txt(process.env.STORE_NAME!).up()
    .ele('link').txt(process.env.STORE_URL!).up();

  for (const product of products) {
    for (const variant of product.variants) {
      const item = root.ele('item');
      item.ele('g:id').txt(variant.sku).up();
      // Title format: Brand + Product Name + Key Attribute (Color/Size)
      item.ele('g:title').txt(
        [product.brand, product.name, variant.color, variant.size].filter(Boolean).join(' ').slice(0, 150)
      ).up();
      item.ele('g:description').txt(product.description.slice(0, 5000)).up();
      item.ele('g:link').txt(`${process.env.STORE_URL}/products/${product.slug}?variant=${variant.id}`).up();
      item.ele('g:image_link').txt(product.images[0]?.url ?? '').up();
      item.ele('g:condition').txt('new').up();
      item.ele('g:availability').txt(variant.inventory > 0 ? 'in_stock' : 'out_of_stock').up();
      item.ele('g:price').txt(`${(variant.priceInCents / 100).toFixed(2)} USD`).up();
      item.ele('g:brand').txt(product.brand ?? process.env.STORE_NAME!).up();
      item.ele('g:google_product_category').txt(product.googleProductCategory).up();
      item.ele('g:item_group_id').txt(product.id).up(); // groups variants together
      if (variant.color) item.ele('g:color').txt(variant.color).up();
      if (variant.size) item.ele('g:size').txt(variant.size).up();
      if (product.gtin) item.ele('g:gtin').txt(product.gtin).up();
      item.ele('g:identifier_exists').txt(product.gtin ? 'yes' : 'no').up();
    }
  }

  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/xml; charset=utf-8');
  res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=3600');
  res.send(root.end({ prettyPrint: false }));
}

Register this feed URL in Merchant Center under Products → Feeds → Add a Primary Feed.

Use the Content API to push real-time price/inventory updates instead of waiting for Google's scheduled crawl:

import { google } from 'googleapis';

const content = google.content({ version: 'v2.1', auth: await new google.auth.GoogleAuth({
  keyFile: process.env.GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY_PATH,
  scopes: ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/content'],
}).getClient() });

// Push updated product when inventory or price changes
await content.products.insert({
  merchantId: process.env.GOOGLE_MERCHANT_ID,
  requestBody: {
    offerId: variant.sku,
    availability: variant.inventory > 0 ? 'in_stock' : 'out_of_stock',
    price: { value: (variant.priceInCents / 100).toFixed(2), currency: 'USD' },
    contentLanguage: 'en',
    targetCountry: 'US',
    channel: 'online',
  },
});

Step 3: Optimize feed quality

Feed quality is the primary Shopping ranking factor. Fix these in order of impact:

1. Optimize product titles — put brand and key attributes first (Google truncates after ~70 characters):

• Good: "Nike Air Max 90 White Men's Size 10"
• Bad: "Air Max 90 - Various Colors Available"

2. Add GTINs/barcodes — missing GTINs is the most common cause of reduced impression share; add barcodes to every product that has one

3. Set Google product category — use Google's taxonomy (search "Google Product Taxonomy") and map each product type; use numeric IDs for exact matching

4. Ensure landing page price matches feed price — even $0.01 discrepancy causes price-mismatch disapproval; check Merchant Center → Diagnostics weekly

5. Add multiple product images — products with 3+ images get higher quality scores; lifestyle images + white background images both help

Step 4: Fix common disapproval issues

In Merchant Center, go to Products → Diagnostics to see all issues:

Best Practices

• Front-load keywords in titles — Google truncates titles at ~70 characters in the UI; put brand and product name first
• Register a supplemental feed for promotions — overlay sale prices without modifying the primary feed; reduces disapproval risk during sales
• Cache the feed response with a 1-hour TTL — Merchant Center crawls frequently; avoid hammering your database on every request
• Monitor disapproval rate daily — a spike often means a recent deploy changed URL patterns or price formatting
• Set `identifier_exists: no` only for truly private-label products without any GTIN/MPN — misusing it causes disapproval for products that do have identifiers

Common Pitfalls

Related Skills

• @google-ads-ecommerce
• @ecommerce-seo
• @meta-ads-integration
• @marketing-attribution-dashboard

Real-Time Merchant Center Sync Service

Problem Description

Bloom & Branch is a fast-moving home goods retailer with a dynamic catalog: flash sales can start and end within hours, and warehouse inventory fluctuates throughout the day. Their current setup relies on Google's automatic 24-hour feed re-crawl, meaning a product can show as in-stock in Shopping ads long after it has sold out — or worse, customers click on an ad only to find the sale price has already expired.

The engineering team wants to build two TypeScript services:

1. A real-time inventory and price sync — When the warehouse management system triggers a webhook listing SKUs that have changed (price or stock level), the service should push updated product data directly to Google Merchant Center as quickly as possible. The team expects batches of up to several hundred SKUs at once during peak restock or repricing events, so efficiency is critical.

2. A promotions overlay feed — The marketing team runs scheduled promotions configured in a database. Rather than touching the primary product feed (which could introduce crawl lag), they want a separate endpoint that Merchant Center can fetch to get current sale prices with start and end dates.

Build a TypeScript implementation covering both of these services. Since no real database or Merchant Center account is available, define mock data inline (a few product variants with prices and a couple of active promotions) and demonstrate the structure of both services. Write the output to sync-service.ts and include comments explaining key decisions.

Output Specification

• sync-service.ts: Contains both the batch sync function and the supplemental feed endpoint handler
• The batch sync function should accept an array of SKU strings and push the corresponding product data to Merchant Center
• The supplemental feed handler should return the promotions data in the appropriate format with correct HTTP headers
• Use realistic mock data (at least 3 product variants and 2 active promotions) defined inline

No large files should be left on disk. The implementation does not need to connect to a real API — just demonstrate the correct structure and calls.

Merchant Center Health Check and Global Expansion

Problem Description

Meridian Outdoors is a direct-to-consumer gear brand that sells camping and hiking equipment. After a recent backend migration, their product disapproval rate in Google Merchant Center spiked significantly, and they're not sure which issues are most widespread. At the same time, the business is expanding from the US market into the UK and Canada, and needs Shopping ads running in those regions too.

The team has two immediate needs:

1. Disapproval audit tool — A TypeScript script that connects to Merchant Center and produces a ranked summary of the most common disapproval reasons across the entire catalog. The output should make it easy to see which issues to fix first.

2. Multi-country product insertion — A TypeScript function that takes a product SKU and pushes that product to Merchant Center for all three target markets (US, UK, Canada) with region-appropriate pricing. Some products in their catalog are Meridian's own-brand designs with no GTIN, while others are third-party branded items with barcodes. Both cases need to be handled correctly.

The team has encountered two specific recurring problems: variants of the same product appearing as separate unrelated listings in Shopping results, and some of their private-label products getting flagged for missing product identifiers. The solution should handle both of these cases correctly.

Write the implementation in merchant-tools.ts. Since no real API credentials are available, use mock data (at least one GTIN-enabled product and one private-label product, each with at least 2 variants) defined inline. Include comments explaining how each issue is addressed.

Output Specification

• merchant-tools.ts: Contains the audit function and multi-country insertion function
• The audit function should output a sorted table or JSON showing issue codes by frequency
• The multi-country function should demonstrate correct per-country configuration
• No large files should be left on disk

Google Shopping Feed Generator

Problem Description

Sole Collective is a mid-sized footwear brand selling through their own online store. Their marketing team has decided to launch Google Shopping ads but needs a standards-compliant product data feed that Google Merchant Center can crawl. The catalog contains multiple product lines, each with color and size variants, and products that sometimes have GTINs and sometimes don't (for their private-label styles).

The development team needs a TypeScript/Node.js feed generator that produces a well-structured XML product feed. Past attempts using string concatenation or ad-hoc XML were rejected by Merchant Center's feed validator; the team wants a proper implementation built with a solid XML library that handles all the required fields correctly. The feed must also be performant enough that Google's frequent crawls don't overload the database.

Output Specification

Write a TypeScript file feed.ts that exports a function generateGoogleShoppingFeed(req, res) which, when called, builds and returns the XML product feed.

Your implementation should:

• Query a mock set of products with variants (you can define the data inline or as a helper function — no real database needed)
• Include at least 2 products, each with 2+ variants, at least one product with a GTIN and one without
• Set the appropriate HTTP response headers
• Produce a valid XML feed body

The mock product data should be defined inline in the file so the output is self-contained and runnable. Include a brief README.md explaining any notable design decisions.

Input Files (optional)

The following file provides example product data you should use as the basis for your implementation. Extract it before beginning.

=============== FILE: inputs/products.json =============== [ { "id": "prod-001", "name": "Cloud Runner", "brand": "Sole Collective", "description": "A lightweight daily trainer designed for long-distance comfort. Features a responsive foam midsole, breathable mesh upper, and durable rubber outsole. Suitable for road and light trail running. Built for runners who log 40+ miles per week and need reliable cushioning without excess weight.", "slug": "cloud-runner", "googleProductCategory": 3 , "gtin": "00012345678905", "mpn": "SCR-001", "weightKg": 0.32, "categories": [{ "name": "Athletic" }, { "name": "Running" }], "images": [ { "url": "https://example.com/images/cloud-runner-main.jpg" }, { "url": "https://example.com/images/cloud-runner-side.jpg" }, { "url": "https://example.com/images/cloud-runner-sole.jpg" }, { "url": "https://example.com/images/cloud-runner-back.jpg" } ], "variants": [ { "id": "v-001-wh-9", "sku": "SCR-001-WH-9", "color": "White", "size": "9", "inventory": 12, "priceInCents": 12999, "salePriceInCents": null }, { "id": "v-001-wh-10", "sku": "SCR-001-WH-10", "color": "White", "size": "10", "inventory": 7, "priceInCents": 12999, "salePriceInCents": null }, { "id": "v-001-bk-9", "sku": "SCR-001-BK-9", "color": "Black", "size": "9", "inventory": 0, "priceInCents": 12999, "salePriceInCents": 9999 } ] }, { "id": "prod-002", "name": "Heritage Low", "brand": null, "description": "Our signature canvas sneaker, handcrafted using traditional techniques. The vulcanized rubber sole and unbleached canvas upper give it an authentic retro look. A wardrobe staple for those who appreciate timeless footwear without logos or branding noise.", "slug": "heritage-low", "googleProductCategory": 3, "gtin": null, "mpn": "HL-002", "weightKg": 0.28, "categories": [{ "name": "Casual" }, { "name": "Lifestyle" }], "images": [ { "url": "https://example.com/images/heritage-low-main.jpg" }, { "url": "https://example.com/images/heritage-low-angle.jpg" } ], "variants": [ { "id": "v-002-nt-8", "sku": "HL-002-NT-8", "color": "Natural", "size": "8", "inventory": 20, "priceInCents": 7999, "salePriceInCents": null }, { "id": "v-002-nt-9", "sku": "HL-002-NT-9", "color": "Natural", "size": "9", "inventory": 15, "priceInCents": 7999, "salePriceInCents": null } ] } ]