What Are Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates?

Google Merchant Center is critical in helping e-commerce owners showcase their products across the Google network, from search results to Shopping ads. 

With millions of products competing for visibility, maintaining accurate details like pricing and availability can make or break a potential sale. That’s where Google Merchant Center’s automatic item updates come in. 

Google Merchant Center’s automatic item updates feature uses structured data markup from a website to update the product information displayed in ads. In addition to structured data markup, Google also uses another method called analyzing page source code to update items automatically.

Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates help merchants align their listings with real-time changes, ensuring that customers always see the most current information when browsing or purchasing.

If you’re new to Google Merchant Center, here’s how to set up a Google Merchant Center account.

Glossary

Schema Markup: A type of code embedded in a website’s backend to help search engines understand the content on a page. 

Structured Data: Structured Data is a way to organize data in a formatted repository (the central place where data, code, files, or other digital resources are stored and managed.), such as a database. 

What Are Automatic Item Updates?

The Google Merchant Center’s automatic item updates feature uses structured data from your website to update the product information displayed on Google Shopping ads and free listings automatically. If your website doesn’t have structured data markup, Google uses another method called analyzing page source code to update items automatically. 

NOTE: This feature is only for making changes to attributes such as price, availability, and condition alone and hence cannot be used as a primary method to update feeds. The other methods to upload or update your feed are manually uploading feed, through Google Sheets, Content API, Scheduled fetch, Supplemental feeds, and using third-party apps.

• This is to ensure the data is accurate and up-to-date and to avoid any discrepancies in the information from your website to Google Shopping ads and free product listings.
• Automatic item updates are part of Google’s automatic improvements. These improvements allow Google to automatically update products, images, and shipping estimates based on the data available on the website.
• Automatic improvements are extended beyond products to images and shipping estimates; automatic item updates are applied only for price [price], availability [availability], and condition [condition] attributes.

Let’s understand the usage of Automatic Item Updates through an example:

You uploaded a product on Google Merchant Center for $10 USD and changed the price on your website landing page to $12 USD. Now, Google automatically updates the product to $12 USD in Google Shopping ads and free product listings.

Why?

• The data must be consistent across the website, Google shopping ads, and free listings. This fosters a positive customer experience and increased conversion rate.
• Enabling this feature also ensures that you abide by Google Shopping Policies. Google’s policy on landing page requirements is that “Landing pages must always match the product in product data; failing to do so might result in product disapproval.”

What Is The Role Of Automatic Item Updates In Updating Your Feed?

In this section, you will learn the purpose of using automatic item updates to update your product feed.

• Automatic item updates only update the values for price, availability, and condition attributes. This feature aims to make minor changes to your feed, and thus, it cannot be used as the primary or only method of updating your feed.

• If you use the following methods for updating your product feed: Content API, Scheduled fetch, Supplemental feed, FTP, or third-party tools, enabling automatic item updates is optional. This is because changes made to the feed are automatically updated regularly in Google Merchant Center via these methods.
• Hence, it is not mandatory to enable the automatic item update feature when using these methods. However, you can still use it on occasions like running sales or promotions, where the availability and price attributes change frequently. 
• On the other hand, if you use the manual method (or Google Sheets) to upload your feed, turning on automatic item updates is mandatory as it involves a lot of manual effort to update the feed every time data changes on your website. 
• With the automatic item updates feature, you don’t have to worry about manually making changes to your feed, as Google automatically updates the changes to price, availability, and condition attributes. 
• However, the automatic item update feature doesn’t replace the manual method of updating feeds. You should still use the manual method and automatic item updates.
• It is important to know that this feature is only for making changes to price, availability, and condition attributes alone. Hence, you will be required to have additional methods for updating your feed.

NOTE: Automatic item updates are a Google Merchant Center Next and Classic feature. You can access it from both versions for now. However, the Classic version will be retired after September 30, 2024.

Let’s understand how Google updates the information automatically through the Automatic Item Update feature.

How Automatic Item Updates Work?

Google uses the website’s schema markup (code embedded in the website) to sync the store’s data markup (organize data in a repository) to your Google Merchant Center Next account. 

How automatic item updates work is that Google checks the product data on your website with the information in your Google Merchant Center Next account. After checking the data, it automatically updates your Google Merchant Center data based on any discrepancies, such as mismatched prices, availability, or conditions. Jump to the types of updates supported by the Automatic Item Updates feature.

When to Use Automatic Item Update Feature:

While Google Merchant Center automatic item updates are helpful, you cannot use them as the primary method of updating your feed. You will have to manually update other product attributes such as product title, product description, and so on. 

Thus, you should use additional methods of updating your Google Shopping Feed along with automatic item updates. 

Read Also: A guide to Google Shopping Feed Specifications.

So, when do you use the Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates feature?

Merchants must use the automatic item updates feature when:

1. They use a manual method or Google Sheets to update their product feed, and they can’t update it all the time.
2. The attributes, price, and availability have to be updated multiple times a day.
3. Running seasonal or promotional sales as the values for price and availability keep changing frequently.
4. To ensure accurate information across the website and ads to avoid product disapprovals.

Types of Updates Supported By Automatic Item Updates

Google Merchant Center automatically updates the following attributes:

Price [price]

Google updates the price of your Shopping ads and free listings based on the prices found on the website.

Availability [availability]

Google updates the availability status on your product feed based on the status on the website. If a product is out-of-stock, it automatically changes the status to out-of-stock.

Additionally, if you want to update out-of-stock products to in-stock products based on the information on your website, Google will do so accordingly. For this, you must set allowStrictAvailabilityUpdates to true.

strictAvailability

If the product is in stock on your website, Google updates the availability status of out-of-stock products to in-stock. To do this, you must enable availability updates.

If you want to allocate out-of-stock to low-stock items, you should turn off strict availability updates by setting allowStrictAvailabilityUpdates to false.

Condition [condition]

Google updates the condition of your products based on the information found on your website.

Benefits of Automatic Item Updates

Following are the benefits you can expect from Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates:-

• Reduced risk of account suspension: The automatic item updates feature corrects the price, availability, and condition attributes, thus reducing the chances of account suspension due to inaccuracies or mismatches.
• No Mismatches:  When Google crawls your website and identifies any differences in your website’s microdata and Google Merchant Center feed data, Google extracts the information found from your store’s data markup and syncs to your Google Merchant Center Next account, ensuring no mismatches. This is also the reason why your website must follow a valid structured data markup.
• Better user experience: These updates ensure that the data on Google Shopping ads matches the information on your landing page. Consistent information across website and ads fosters a positive experience for users, thus improving their overall experience.
• More traffic: With Automatic item updates, all your products will be approved, which increases traffic to your product listing ads.
• Higher Conversion Rates: This feature enables customers to find consistent prices, availability, and conditions for your products in your Google Shopping ads or free listings and on your website. This improves user experience and generates more traffic. 

Changes In Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates

Previously, Google made it mandatory for website owners to have structured data markup to apply automatic item updates.

Change 1: Analyze Page Source Code

Google only extracted the information using structured data markup, but that has changed. From June 26, 2022, onwards, Google announced that it could also get information from your website in other ways if the website does not have a structured data markup.

• Other methods include analyzing the page source code to find price and availability signals. Google says it also uses machine learning to extract product data and has checks in place to minimize inaccuracies.

• The other minor change is the default setting for Automatic item updates is on. Google automatically turned on Automatic Item Updates for merchants who previously had it disabled. 

These changes aim to improve product information quality in paid and organic Shopping listings. 

Change 2: Automatic Item updates for condition 

Automatic item updates were offered for the price [price] and availability [availability] attributes alone. After June 26, 2022, it was applied to the condition attribute as well.

The condition [condition] attribute tells about the condition of the product you’re selling, for example, New, Refurbished, or Used. Google believes it is vital to set this value correctly since it is used to refine search results.

Initially, all the accounts were automatically opted in to use automatic item updates for the condition attribute. Now, you can opt out of it. 

To do so, go to Google Merchant Center Next account > Automatic Improvements setting >  under automatic updates > click Edit < Uncheck the ‘update condition’ box’

However, remember that If you opt-out, your products may be disapproved if they use an incorrect condition value.

How to Enable Automatic Item Updates

In this section, you will learn the step-by-step process of enabling automatic item updates in your Google Merchant Center Next account. Before that, you must ensure your website is properly set up.

Verifying your Site’s Structured Data for Proper Functionality.

Check if your website’s product page is well set up with structured data markup. Ensuring your website has valid structured data markup is essential for Google to access accurate data from your website. If you’re facing issues like Google Merchant Center website not claimed, addressing structured data can be a crucial step.

However, there are other ways Google can extract information from your website. So, why use structured data markup?

Although structured data markup is not mandatory, it is highly recommended that you implement it, because:

Using structured data can help you enhance search engine understanding. With structured data for rich results and snippets. Additionally, structured data ensures consistency across platforms and reduces errors in automatic updates.

Here’s an example of how structured data markup would look on your website for a product:

<html>
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Men's Running Shoes",
  "image": "https://example.com/images/mens-running-shoes.jpg",
  "description": "High-performance running shoes designed for optimal comfort and durability.",
  "sku": "12345",
  "mpn": "98765",
  "brand": {
    "@type": "Brand",
    "name": "Your Brand Name"
  },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://example.com/product/mens-running-shoes",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "price": "99.99",
    "priceValidUntil": "2024-12-31",
    "itemCondition": "https://schema.org/NewCondition",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "seller": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "Your Store Name"
    }
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.5",
    "reviewCount": "25"
  },
  "review": [
    {
      "@type": "Review",
      "author": {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Jane Doe"
      },
      "datePublished": "2024-08-15",
      "reviewBody": "These shoes are incredibly comfortable and offer great support during long runs.",
      "reviewRating": {
        "@type": "Rating",
        "ratingValue": "5"
      }
    }
  ]
}
</script>
</html>

After ensuring that the code is properly set up on your website, let’s enable automatic item updates in your Google Merchant Center Next account. It’s a simple and straightforward process.

How to Enable Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates

Follow the steps mentioned below to enable automatic item updates in your account.

As mentioned earlier, we will use Google Merchant Center Next for this process. Learn more about Google Merchant Center Next Vs. Classic.

STEP 1:  Go to your account > select products in the left-hand-side navigation menu.

 STEP 2: Click the Automatic Improvements tab. 

STEP 3: Click ‘Edit’

STEP 4: This will take you to the next step. Here, you can choose price, availability, or condition attributes. You can also choose all three or any combination of them. Check the boxes as per your preference.

STEP 5: Click ‘Save.’

Additionally,

There are also Automatic Image Improvements that you can apply to your product images. To do so, you can turn on the “Automatically improve products’ main image,” and Google will automatically update images that it thinks need to be improved. 

Google updates the images to improve quality and ensure that they meet the requirements. However, this feature works only for disapproved products. 

That’s all. It’s that simple to enable automatic item updates in your Google Merchant Center Next account.

Best Practices for Using Automatic Item Updates

In order to automatically apply the changes to your products’ Google requires you to set up your website properly. This might sound repetitive, but it’s super important to prevent your products from being disapproved.

• Use valid HTML: Google detects the price you’re displaying based on the structure of your landing page. Use valid HTML to ensure that Google detects the correct price. Remember that you should use microdata along with valid HTML to enable automatic item updates. Use the W3C validation service to check your HTML.
• For US sellers, product prices and availability change during big events like Black Friday sales, so it’s crucial to maintain the same information across your landing page and ads. And for that, 

Here are some tips for managing your data: 

• Enable automatic item updates: When running sales, you must update the values multiple times. Enabling automatic item updates ensures accurate pricing and availability for products on the website and in the ads.

NOTE: Do not use this feature as your main method of updating your product data. These updates only happen when Google crawls your landing page, and you still need to resubmit your product data regularly.

• Product identifiers must be accurate: Especially GTINs and MPNs make your ads and listings easier for customers to find. If you use incorrect identifiers, your ads and listings may be disapproved, or they may not show for the right searches. 
• Avoid making abrupt structural changes to your website: Google relies on crawling your landing pages to collect key information like price and availability. Significant changes to your page structure could result in product disapprovals if essential product details can’t be verified. 

You must prevent the following structural changes:

• Replacing the price details within the source code of your landing page.
• Using JavaScript or other animations to display prices or price reductions.
• Do not change the ID of a product: If you change the ID[id] attribute of a product, it will be considered a new product. The product must be approved again, which might take up to 3 business days. 

Challenges In Automatic Item Updates and How to Fix Them

Although the changes happen automatically, you might face issues like your feed not being updated and other errors. It is common to encounter such problems; make sure you perform the following fixes to resolve these issues.

Challenge 1: Why is my Google feed not updating?

If you notice that your feed is not updating and you have turned on automatic item updates, The issue could be with the structured data markup on your website. 

How To Fix It:

As suggested in the above section, how to enable Google Merchant Center Automatic Item Updates, make sure you have set up the correct structured markup data. Refer to the example shown in the same section to fix this issue.

Challenge 2: Automatic item updates active: availability [availability]

You will see an error on your Google Merchant Center called incorrect availability. 

Incorrect Availability Error: This means that some of the products you’ve provided to show in Google Shopping ads or free product listings had an availability [availability] in your product data different from the availability displayed on your website. Google updates the availability value automatically. However, it considers this as a critical issue and shows it as a GMC error in your Google Merchant Center Next account.

How to Fix It:

• Google recommends you upload the feed more often or schedule feed uploads or updates via the Content API immediately after the products have been updated on your website. 
• If you use a local product inventory feed, ensure to check those feeds and the main product feed to identify and fix the incorrect availability error.
• In order to determine and update mismatches, Google crawls the landing pages listed in your product data feed or in the Content API. If you have more products and wish to increase the speed of detecting mismatches, you can do so by increasing Google’s crawl rate.

Additionally, if you do not want to keep the changes made by the automatic item updates feature, you can revert to a specific automatic update by uploading your product feed again or by updating it with the Content API.

Here’s How You Can Upload or Update Product Data Feed

Step 1: See the affected products

• Go to your Google Merchant Center Next account > Select Products on the navigation menu > click Diagnostics > click the Item Issues tab to view current issues affecting your products.
• Download a CSV file of all affected products.

Step 2: Update availability attribute value

• Apply a filter to the downloaded file so that you only see products with

Automatic item updates active: availability[availability] issue.

• Check your product data for the affected products using their ID, and ensure that all the products have the same value for the availability [availability] attribute. 

Step 3: Resubmit your product data

Once you’ve updated data for all the affected products, upload the data through any of the following methods:

• Uploading a feed manually
• Through the Content API using feed management tools
• Scheduled Fetch
• FTP and so on

Next, check that you’ve fixed the issue by ensuring it’s no longer listed on the Diagnostics page. It might take some time for the change to display in the Diagnostics tab.

Challenge 3: Automatic item updates active: condition [condition]

Incorrect Condition Error:  This error is shown because Google finds that the condition value provided for one or more products does not match how the condition is described in the other product attributes such as product description. That is why you will see this error. 

However, Google updates the condition of a product automatically by collecting information from your website. But it shows a critical error.

How to Fix It:

• If you use a local product feed, check those feeds as well as the main product feed to resolve the incorrect condition error.

Read Also: A Guide to Local Inventory Ads

• Give commonly used descriptions of the condition of your product. For example, “used,” “second-hand,” or “pre-owned.”
• To make changes to the affected products and resubmit the product feed, follow the same process shown for the incorrect availability error.

Challenge 4: Automatic item updates active: price [price]

Incorrect Price Error: This error means that price mismatches are found on the website and your feed. Google updates the price but still shows this as a critical issue in your account. You will see the error under the ‘Needs Attention’ tab.

How To Fix It:

• Schedule feed uploads or updates via the Content API immediately after the products have been updated on your website. This will help you avoid errors due to the time difference between updates on your website and updates of your Google Merchant Center product data.

• If you use the sale price [sale_price] attribute, make sure that the time period in which the sale is active is specified correctly with the sale price effective date [sale_price_effective_date] attribute and that the timezone is correct. When a sale is active, the sale price is shown as the current price in the Shopping search results.
• If you have local products, you may need to check the local product inventory feed as well as the main product feed to identify and rectify the incorrect price issue.
• For products sold in bulk quantities, you must submit the total price for the minimum number of items sold. 

• Ensure the landing page displays prices in the currency of the target country and in the same currency as the one submitted in your product data.
• Increase Google’s crawl rate to allow Google to crawl more products on your website. 
• If you wish to not keep the changes made by automatic item updates, you can revert a specific automatic update by uploading updated product data via the feed or the Content API.

If you see a “needs attention” message for the price attribute in your Google Merchant Center Next account, you can fix it by following these steps:

Fix products one by one directly in the Google Merchant Center.

Step 1: Go to Google Merchant Center Next account > navigate to products > select the Needs attention tab.

Step 2: Use the filter icon to find all products affected by your issue.

Step 3: Click on the product title you want to fix > then click ‘Edit product.’

Step 4: Check your product feed data for the affected products (using the ID), and ensure that each product has the same value for price [price] (or sale price [sale_price] and sale price effective date [sale_price_effective_date]) as is shown on your website and in its structured data.

Step 5: Select ‘Save.’

NOTE: You can also fix multiple products at once by downloading a CSV file of all the affected products and making changes to it. Then, re-upload your corrected product feed data to your Google Merchant Center Next account.

Maintaining product information that is up-to-date and accurate would save you from potential errors and warnings. 

Although Automatic item updates help you update the price, availability, and condition attributes of your products, it is ideal for making minor changes and don’t replace the manual method of updating data. 

That said, manual uploads are time-consuming and prone to errors, and automatic item updates are limited in scope. In contrast, product feed management tools offer seamless product management, automated bulk updates, and centralized control.

These feed tools reduce errors, save time, and scale effortlessly, making them essential for growing businesses looking to optimize their product management. 

That is why you should consider a product feed management tool as an alternative method to update your feed. It gives you the flexibility to update your data regularly without any manual intervention.

That brings us to the next section, which is feed management tools for Shopify merchants.

Alternative Method To Updating Your Google Shopping Feed (For Shopify Merchants)

As a Shopify merchant, if you’re looking for a reliable solution to update and manage your feeds regularly, Shopify provides a Google & YouTube app where you can streamline your product feed management and receive a number of other benefits.

Let’s have a look at it:

Google & YouTube app

The Google & YouTube app for Shopify connects your store to Google and YouTube, allowing automatic syncing of products and store details with Google Merchant Center.  You can also access insights through Google Analytics. The app integrates with Google Merchant Center, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Shopping, and YouTube Shopping.

• Link your Shopify store to the Google Merchant Center to display your products across Google. 
• Track the entire e-commerce journey using insights from Google Analytics.  
• Synchronize product information from Shopify to highlight deals, shipping, and return policies on Google.
• It also offers feed optimization, conversion tracking, inventory sync, and more.

Ratings: 4.6⭐ (8658) by Shopify

Pricing: The app is free to install 

While this feed management tool is great for managing your feeds, it lacks powerful features like AI-powered product feed management and multi-language and multi-currency feeds.

• The AI-powered feed optimization feature is crucial for streamlining your product management, ensuring data accuracy, SEO-optimized product information, and more. 
• With multi-currency and multi-language feeds, you can expand globally and sell anywhere. That is why we introduce you to AdNabu, an AI-powered feed management tool with all these features and more.

Let’s take a look at it.

AdNabu

AdNabu is an AI-powered feed management tool for Shopify merchants. This feed management tool offers Shopify headless store support and helps sellers reach a global audience through multi-currency and multi-language feeds. 

• It also offers Instant Shopify Product Updates to Google Merchant Center feature, which enables merchants to sync product information from Shopify to Google Merchant Center.

• The app also allows merchants to sell across different marketplaces, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, X, and more. It is suitable for small to established brands.

• The app uses an AI GPT-4o mini language model to customize your products for titles, descriptions, highlights, and more.

• Additionally, the feature also comes with Background AI Optimization, where the product information is automatically updated at least once a day. 

• Customize your products, source highly profitable keywords, and get SEO-friendly product titles using the keywords sourced directly from Google Keyword Planner. 

Ratings: 4.8⭐ (710) by Shopify

The app has a free plan and a 14-day free trial.

Basic Plan: Starts at $29.99/month

Advanced Plan: Costs $79.99/month and

Plus Plan: Costs $249.99/month.

In Conclusion

Google Merchant Center’s automatic item updates are a valuable tool for maintaining accurate and up-to-date product information across your listings. 

By ensuring that pricing, availability, and other key details are always current, you can minimize the risk of product disapprovals or lost sales. Embracing these automated updates saves time and helps build trust with potential buyers, ultimately contributing to the growth and success of your e-commerce business.

 FAQs

What is the Google Shopping automatic item update?

Google scans your website, uses the structured data markup, or analyzes page source code to update your items. The Automatic Item Update feature uses the information on the website to update price, availability, and condition attributes in Google Shopping ads and free listings. 

However, automatic item updates should only be used for updating minor changes and are beneficial for those using manual feeds. For merchants using Content API, supplemental feeds, scheduled fetch, FTP and other methods automatic item updates is a option and not mandatory. This is because, through these methods the data is updated regularly.

How often does Google Merchant Center update feeds?

The updating frequency depends on the type of feed. However, Google’s automatic fetch is for every 24 hours. However, the feed can be updated daily or multiple times if there are multiple changes. You can check the processing of your feed in Google Merchant Center > Products > Feeds > Click on your feed > Processing.

How do I refresh my Google Merchant Center feed?

You can refresh your feed by uploading product data through scheduled fetches, FTP, content API, manually uploading a file, and so on. You must follow a few steps to refresh your feed using the methods mentioned above.

How do I refresh the content API feed in Google Merchant Center?

For AdNabu users, Google products feed will be automatically updated every 24 hours. To update the feed instantly, you can click on the update feed button in AdNabu.

Can automatic updates override manual feed updates?

Yes, Google Merchant Center automatic item updates override manual feed updates, specifically for pricing, availability, and condition information. They override the information only when Google detects a difference between your feed and the structured data on your site.

What happens if there’s a conflict between feed data and website data?

It’s important to ensure that your website’s structured data and product feed are consistent to avoid conflicts and maintain accurate listings. In any case, if the data is inconsistent and you have enabled automatic item updates, then Google updates the information in ads. If automatic item updates are not enabled, then Google might disapprove products.

On the other hand, your ads show incorrect information, thus leading to zero sales and negative customer experiences.

Check Out These Related Articles:

• Unable to View Store on Desktop and Mobile Errors in GMC
• How to Fix Google Merchant Suspensions for Adult Products
• Resolving MCA Over Capacity in Google Merchant Center
• How to Resolve Pending Google Ads Account Link Requests?
• How to Resolve Mismatched Product Availability Error in GMC