Set Up Google Shopping Product Feed

SOP 218: Set Up Google Shopping Product Feed

Set up a product data sheet for your online store and feed it to Google Merchant Center

Last Updated / Reviewed: 01/31/2025

Execution Time: 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on the number of products)

🚀 Goal: To feed product data to your Google Merchant Center Next account.

🤞 Ideal Outcome: You successfully create and upload your product data to your Google Merchant Center Next.

🤔 Why this is important: When you add your product data to your Google Merchant Center Next, it enables you to run shopping advertisments and promote your products across Google's various platforms. The Google Shopping data feed is crucial to the success of your Google shopping campaigns.

🧐 Where this is done In Google Merchant Center Next and Google Excel.

🗓️ When this is done: Whenever there are new updates to your products.

👨 Who does this: The business owner/manager or the local/agency digital marketer.

⚠️Prerequisites or requirements: If you’re new to Google Merchant Center Next, you will need the following tasks to be completed before using this SOP:

Set up a Google Merchant Center Next (SOP 213 – web version)

Familiarize yourself with the type of feeds available. (refer to types of feeds)

You must adhere to Google’s formats before feeding your product data to your Google Merchant Center Next (Refer to file formats)

It is recommended to use Google Excel Sheets instead of Microsoft Excel saved as “Tab-separated values (.tsv, current sheet)” (Refer to how to convert spreadsheet)

You will need to create a new primary feed Excel sheet. Click on the ready-made Google Excel sheet (Template 068 – web version). Copy it into your Gmail business account. A few examples are given in Excel for your reference. Key in your product information according to the attributes.

If you already use Google Merchant Center Next, you will need the following tasks to be completed before using this SOP:

If you already have a primary feed previously set up, use the ready-made supplemental feed Google Excel sheet (Template 069 – web version). Copy it into your Gmail business account.

Click here to get the most up-to-date version of this SOP

Preparing the data feed

01▸ If you are a new user, you will need to create a new primary data feed in Google Excel. Please refer to the Template 068: Primary Google Shopping Product Feed Template (web version).

02▸ In the Google Excel sheet, go to “File” and click “Make a copy”.

03▸ Ensure that you have the right folder to copy into and hit “Make a copy”.

04▸ Next, you will need to fill out your product attributes such as ID, Title, Description, Price, Condition, Link, Availability, and Image link. A few examples are illustrated below.

If you already have a primary feed previously set up and would like to add data that are missing from your primary feed, follow the same steps above and fill out the Supplemental Feed Google Excel Sheet (Template 069: Supplementary Google Shopping Product Feed Template - web version).

How to set up a new primary feed

01▸ Sign in to your Google Merchant Center here. Choose the appropriate Gmail account and log in with your password. Click “Next”.

02▸ Click "Products” under “Your Business” > "Add products".

03▸ Select "Add another product source".

04▸ Next, click “Use Google Sheets” > "Choose spreadsheet".

05▸ Choose a Gmail account that consists of your Google Excel (primary data feed) sheets. It will automatically link to your Google account.

06▸ Select the appropriate Excel data feed sheet. Click “Insert”.

07▸ Adjust the country that the products will be shown to with the preferred language and set it to "for all marketing methods". Enter a feed label only when you need to categorize your products.

08▸ Click “Continue” to move forward.

How to set up a supplemental feed

01▸ Sign in to your Google Merchant Center here. Choose a Gmail account and log in with your password. Click “Next”.

02▸ Go to the settings or click on the gear icon in your Merchant Center > "Add-ons".

03▸ In the "Discover" tab, locate "Advanced Data Source Management" and click "Add".

04▸ Go to "Data sources" under the settings or gear icon.

05▸ Select the "Supplemental sources" tab. Click on "Add supplemental product data".

06▸ Choose "Add Product data from file" and provide the necessary details.

07▸ Adjust the country that the products will be shown to with the preferred language and set it to "for all marketing methods". Enter a feed label only when you need to categorize your products. Click “Continue” to move forward and that's it!