What is a Google Shopping Feed and How to Set it Up? 

Do you know what that key component is that every merchant requires for successfully advertising across Google Shopping? Here’s a hint: it includes all the information about your products in a structured format and is submitted to Google Merchant Center. 

You may have already guessed it correctly: it’s a Google Shopping feed, the backbone of every successful shopping campaign and the engine that powers the visibility of your items on Google. It is this feed that helps Google understand what you are selling, how to match your items to the right queries, and display them to the most relevant audience. 

If you haven’t heard of a Google Shopping feed before and don’t know how to create it, don’t worry. You are at the right place. 

In this blog, we will discuss: 

1. What Google Shopping feeds are and why they are important 
2. How can you set them up
3. The different attributes that comprise a feed
4. Google Shopping feed optimization tips 
5. And some common errors to avoid 

Are you ready? Let’s get started. 

What is a Google Shopping Feed? 

Google Shopping feeds are structured data feed files that include the list of all products and their attributes that a retailer wants to advertise through Google Shopping. These feeds are uploaded to Google Merchant Center according to specific feed requirements and are used by Google to create and display Google Shopping ads and free listings. 

So, in essence, you can say that Google Shopping feeds are the DNA of your store on Google. They define your products and help them display to the right audience in the best possible manner. And this is why the better structured and optimized your Google Shopping feed is, the greater your chances are of getting higher visibility and sales for your e-commerce store. 

How to Set Up a Google Shopping Feed? 

Now, we will discuss how to create a Google Shopping feed and then use it to upload your products to GMC.

However, before we proceed with the step-by-step process, please note that you can only use two file formats on GMC: tab-delimited spreadsheets or XML. In this article, we will cover the process of creating Google Shopping feeds using tab-delimited spreadsheets. 

Step 1: Create your Google Shopping Feed  

First, you will have to create the product file, which includes a list of all items and their attributes. Here’s how you can do that: 

1. Start by opening a spreadsheet program like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. 
2. Create a new sheet. 
3. Within that, in the first row, add all the required Google Shopping feed attributes, such as:
   • ID 
   • Title 
   • Description 
   • Price 
   • Availability 
   • Link 
   • Image link

Once you complete this step, the sheet will appear similar to the screenshot below: 

Step 2: Fill in your Product Data

In the rows below the top row, start adding information about your products for the respective attributes. Moreover, remember that each product must be listed in a separate row, and its details should align correctly with the attribute column. 

For example, a product’s title should fall under the [title] attribute column, and its description should fall under the [description] column. 

Strictly avoid mix-ups, as that can lead to errors in your GMC and get your products disapproved. 

Note: In case of optional attributes, if a product doesn’t have a particular attribute value, then you can leave that particular cell empty. For example, if you are selling custom products, then you may not be able to add GTIN and MPN values for them. So, in such scenarios, rather than adding irrelevant and misleading values, you can leave the cell in your spreadsheet empty.  But for required attributes, you must strictly add all values. This is to ensure seamless product approval and that Google correctly displays your listings in Shopping results.

Step 3: Save your File in the Right Format 

Once you complete filling in the product attribute values, you will have to export the data as a tab-delimited file. 

Both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel allow you to save the file in this format. Here’s how: 

1. For Google Sheets, open the File menu. Then select Download > Tab-Separated Values (.tsv). 

2. For Microsoft Excel, click on File > Save as. Then select the location where you want to save the file. In the “Save as” box, add the selected location and then choose Text (tab-delimited)(*txt) format. 

Note: Ensure that you save the feed with the correct extension, i.e., either ‘.tsv’ or ‘.txt’. Using an unsupported format will prevent Google from processing the feed file and adding your products to GMC.

This downloaded product feed file will serve as your final Google Shopping Feed, ready to be uploaded to Merchant Center.

Step 4: Upload to Google Merchant Center 

On Google Merchant Center: 

1. Go to Products & Store. 
2. Click on Products. 
3. Underneath the ‘All Products’ tab, click on ‘Add products.’ 
4. You will get three sources to add products. 
5. Select ‘Add products from a file.’
6. Choose ‘Upload a file from your computer’ and upload the tab-delimited feed file we created in the previous step. 
7. Click on ‘Continue.’ 

And that’s it. Your feed will be uploaded, and Google will then review your product data for accuracy and policy compliance. This review process generally takes 72 hours. However, in some cases, Google might take more time. 

Once the process is complete, your products will start to appear in the ‘All Products’ tab. However, if any of your products have issues, Google will list them under the “Needs Attention” tab. 

Note: As per the intended length of this article, we just discussed the most common method to set up Google Shopping feed, i.e., via tab-delimited files. However, that’s not the only one. You can also use feed management software to create Google Shopping feeds and sync them to GMC.  To learn more about all such methods, read our blog on ‘How to Set Up Google Shopping Feeds?’

Importance of Google Shopping Feeds

You may have started wondering why you specifically need to create a Google Shopping Feed. Google also allows you to add your products manually, one by one, on Merchant Center. So, why should you go the extra mile and prepare and upload a feed? 

Manually adding product data to GMC can work well for those merchants who have a small inventory and limited SKUs. However, if you have hundreds of SKUs, this method quickly becomes inefficient and prone to errors. In such situations, setting up a Google Shopping feed becomes the smarter and wiser choice. It allows you to upload your products to GMC in bulk, using a structured and standardized format that Google can easily understand. 

Moreover, it is only with Shopping feeds that you can use automated product data update features, such as scheduled fetches on GMC. 

💡Scheduled fetches refer to a feature that allows Google to automatically retrieve product data information from your server at regular intervals to keep information up-to-date in Merchant Center.  To use this feature, you must have a Google Shopping feed hosted either on your server, cloud, or even Google Sheets. Only then can you leverage it.

This automation not only helps you save time but also helps you comply with important Google policies for advertising across its surfaces. 

In short, having a well-structured Google Shopping feed helps to:

1. Upload your product data in bulk to GMC accurately 
2. Automate product data updates 
3. Comply with Google’s Shopping policies

💡A Shopping feed file can also act as a single source of truth for your product data. This means that using that same feed file, you can easily upload products across other marketplaces or advertising platforms (Meta, Bing, etc). This helps ensure that your product data is consistent across all channels.

What are Google Shopping Feed Attributes and Why Are They Important? 

Google Shopping Feed Attributes are individual data points that describe each product in your feed. They specify essential details, such as title, description, price, condition, and availability, and are helpful for providing Google with structured information about your products. 

Some Google Shopping attributes, such as condition [condition] and availability [availability], have standardized values. This means you can only submit values that are pre-defined and accepted by Google. Whereas, there are other attributes, such as id [id], title [title], etc., that are left open for you to fill out as per your choice and the actual information of each item in your feed. 

Using these attributes correctly in your Google Shopping feed is important as it leads to: 

1. Fewer disapprovals of your products (due to product data errors) in Merchant Center 
2. Improved visibility of your listings on Google Shopping, as enriched product data leads to better ad quality and simultaneously targeting (as we learned in the blog earlier) 
3. Higher click-through and conversion rates, since clear and consistent product information builds trust and helps shoppers make quicker purchase decisions

In short, proper usage of attributes makes your listings more complete, relevant, and competitive, all of which help you get better results from your Google Shopping campaigns. 

Different Types of Google Shopping Feed Attributes 

There are two types of attributes in a Google Shopping feed: 

1. Required: These are mandatory, and every merchant should include them for every product in all cases. If you don’t add the required attributes for any item, Google will disapprove it, and you will not be able to advertise it. 

Currently, these are the required Google Shopping feed attributes: 

• ID 
• Title 
• Description 
• Link
• Image link 
• Price
• Availability 

2. Optional: As the name suggests, these attributes are not mandatory to submit. You can include them if you want to enhance the performance of your listings. 

Some examples of optional Google Shopping feed attributes include: 

• Google Product Category 
• GTIN 
• MPN 
• Additional Image Link 
• Mobile Link
• Sale Price 
• Sale Price Effective Data 

Note: For the complete list of Google Shopping feed attributes, we recommend checking out this help page from Google.

Google Shopping Feed Optimization Tips

With all the knowledge we have gained in the sections above, it’s finally time to discuss some Google Shopping feed optimization tips. 

1. Add Clear, Keyword-Rich Product Titles

Always ensure that the product title in your feed and the product’s landing page are exactly similar for the best possible results. Moreover, always place the most important product details first (such as name and brand), as only the first 70 characters of your title generally appear in Shopping ads. And, strictly avoid adding promotional text, all caps, or unnecessary emojis, symbols, etc., to maintain professionalism.

2. Make Product Descriptions Compelling and Informative 

Use the description attribute to describe your product’s most relevant features and visual attributes, such as size, material, variant details, etc. Moreover, ensure that you add the most important information in the first 160-500 characters. This is to help customers quickly understand your product’s details and decide whether to explore it further. Lastly, just like product titles, avoid using promotional or gimmicky language. 

3. Use High-Quality Product Images

Your product images play an important role in attracting shoppers and their clicks. Thus, always use high-resolution images that clearly showcase the actual product that you are selling. Also, ensure that your image shows the correct variant (color, size, etc.) with a clean white or transparent background. Avoid using fancy borders, creative watermarks, or promotional overlays, as Google doesn’t allow that. 

And for the best performance, frame the product in such a way that it takes up 75-90% of the image area. 

Note: The list of Google Shopping feed optimization tips doesn’t end here. There are many other strategies, such as assigning the correct product categories, organizing products with custom labels, etc., that you should follow to get the best results for all products in your feed.  To read more of those tips in detail, we recommend checking out our detailed blog: ‘25 Google Shopping Feed Optimization Tips.’

Common Google Shopping Feed Errors (And Their Fixes) 

When setting up and uploading your Google Shopping feed, you may encounter some common feed errors. These errors can limit the visibility of your products across Google surfaces or even result in disapprovals, which prevent you from advertising them. 

To avoid such issues, it is important to understand what causes these errors and how to fix them. Below are some of the most common Google Shopping feed errors and their solutions:

1. Invalid GTIN: This error occurs when for one or more items in your feed, the GTIN attribute has: 

• Values that aren’t numerals
• Incorrect formatting 
• Too many or too few digits
• Mistyped digitals

To fix the error, check for any of the mistakes mentioned above for all products in your feed. Rectify them, and ensure that you add valid, manufacturer-assigned GTINs for all items. 

Once done, resubmit your Google Shopping feed on GMC using your original product upload method. Google will take around 72 hours to review your changes and approve the flagged items if no further issues are found. 

Bonus: Read our blog on ‘How to Fix GTIN Error?’

2. Text on image: The ‘Text on image’ error occurs when Google detects that the product image for one or more items in your feed includes promotional text or watermarks. 

As these elements obstruct a product’s clear view, Google disapproves all items with such product images. 

To fix this error, update your images and ensure compliance with Google’s product image guidelines. This means that your product images shouldn’t include promotional text, CTAs, logos, barcodes, or any other element that may block the item’s view. 

Once all images meet this requirement, and the image_link attribute correctly points to the updated versions, reupload your entire feed on GMC. Google will review your changes and approve the affected items if the issue has been resolved.

3. Invalid URL: If any URL value in your Google Shopping feed is invalid, you will start noticing the “Invalid URL” error in your GMC. 

To fix it, ensure that all URLs in your feed: 

• Are free of spaces or symbols. 
• Include forward slashes 
• Are relative URLs (start with http:// and include your domain’s name)

Once you have verified and corrected URLs, resubmit your feed on GMC. Upon reviewing, if no further issues are found, the disapproved products will be approved again. 

Note: There are many other Google Shopping feed errors you should be aware of. These include, but aren’t limited to:  1. Invalid image link 2. Invalid product category 3. Duplicate variant 4. Attribute has too few values To read more about them, you should check our blog ‘Common Google Shopping Feed Errors and Fixes.’

Top Google Shopping Feed Optimization Tools

We will now go through some tools for Google Shopping Feed optimization. Using these tools, you can ensure that feed management is much simpler, faster, and efficient. 

1. AdNabu 

AdNabu is a ‘Built For Shopify’ certified product feed management app for Shopify Merchants. It uses advanced AI capabilities powered by the GPT-4o mini model to help you optimize your Shopify products for Google Shopping and many other leading marketplaces. 

Some of its key features include: 

• AI-Feed Optimization: Helps to optimize many important Google Shopping feed attributes such as product titles, highlights, descriptions, etc. 
• Bulk Edit: Allows you to bulk edit 70+ Google Shopping feed attributes for products across different languages and country feeds. 
• Multicurrency and Multilingual Google Shopping Feeds: Enables feed creation in 30+ GMC-supported languages and 139 currencies to help your store go global. 

Note: The feature list shared above isn’t exhaustive. There are many other features that the app supports, such as product review integration, creation of GMC feed rules, etc. To read more about them, go through our website.

Pricing

The app starts for free, and its paid plans begin from $39/month, which you can also try out for free under the 14-day free trial.

2. DataFeedWatch

DataFeedWatch is another prominent feed management tool that you can use to optimize your product data for Google Shopping and 2000+ other e-commerce channels. 

Some of its key features include: 

• Automatic generation of feeds that are tailored for different channels 
• Allows setting up complex product feed rules
• Offers inventory and order management capabilities 

Pricing: 

The app’s pricing starts at $64/month, and you get a 15-day free trial for all plans. 

3. GoDataFeed

GoDataFeed helps you centralize, optimize, and syndicate product feeds for different channels, such as Google, Meta, etc. 

Some of its key features include: 

1. Helps with rule-based and AI-driven feed optimization
2. Alerts merchants about any product feed or policy errors before publishing feeds
3. Offers detailed analytics to track feed and campaign performance 

Pricing:

Their paid plans start from $39/month, and they also offer a 14-day free trial. 

Also read: 10 Best Google Shopping Optimization Software in 2025

Bonus: Google Shopping Feed Template 

To make the feed setup easier for you, we have created a Google Shopping feed template. Consider it as a ready-to-use resource. This template includes all the required attributes, as well as many other optional attributes and their corresponding valid values. 

You can easily duplicate the file and edit it as per your store catalog’s specific requirements. 

Do check it out, as while creating this template, we ensured that we went the extra mile and covered certain specific optional attributes that can help you enrich your product data significantly. 

Download the template here.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Setting up a Google Shopping feed is the foundation of every successful Google Shopping campaign. A well-structured feed ensures your products reach the right audience and perform better across Google surfaces.

The key takeaways from this blog include:

• A Google Shopping feed is a structured file that helps Google understand your products and show them to relevant shoppers.
• You can create a feed using a tab-delimited spreadsheet, fill in all required attributes, and upload it to Google Merchant Center.
• Google Shopping feeds make bulk uploads easier, automate updates, and ensure your product data stays accurate and compliant.
• Adding complete and accurate product attributes improves visibility, ad performance, and approval rates.
• Optimize your feed using clear titles, detailed descriptions, and high-quality images for better engagement.
• Regularly check and fix common feed errors like invalid GTINs, URLs, or image issues to prevent disapprovals.

Over to you. 

FAQs

1. What are the fields in a Google Shopping Feed?

There are several important fields (attributes) in a Google Shopping feed. They can be categorized into two types: required and optional. Required fields include ID, Title, Description, etc., and are mandatory to add for all items. Whereas, when we talk about optional fields, these include GTIN, MPN, Sale price, etc. It’s okay to skip them, but adding these fields can help enhance the performance of your ads. 

2. What are some good Google Shopping Feed Management tools?

There are some great tools like AdNabu that can help you manage and optimize your Google Shopping feeds. AdNabu is a ‘Built for Shopify’ certified feed management software for Shopify merchants that uses AI to enhance product data as per Google’s specific requirements and sync it instantly to Google Merchant Center. 

You can also consider tools like DataFeedWatch, GoDataFeed, and Channable for managing and optimizing your feeds. 

3. Why use Google Shopping feed management software?

Feed management tools help you save time and maintain accurate product data. They automate feed optimization, keep your listings compliant with Google’s requirements, and ensure product updates sync instantly to GMC. This automation improves ad relevance, boosts campaign performance, and reduces manual work.

4. How often should I update my Google Shopping Feed?

Ideally, update your feed whenever inventory or pricing changes. This helps ensure that your product data is consistent across all touchpoints that Google’s systems or a shopper may visit. 

5. Can I manage multiple countries or languages with one Shopping Feed?

Yes, but you’ll need separate feeds or multi-language feed setups for each target country. Some tools, like AdNabu and DataFeedWatch, simplify this process with localization options.

6. What happens if I upload incorrect product data?

Uploading incorrect product data can lead to product disapprovals, limited visibility, or even account suspension in severe cases. Google depends on accurate product details to show the right listings to shoppers. Any mismatch creates a poor shopping experience, which Google wants to avoid. 

Therefore, always review your feed carefully before uploading and fix any errors quickly in Merchant Center to keep your listings active and compliant.