A Complete Guide to Google Shopping Feed Optimization – Elevate Your eCommerce Business

Google, the search engine giant, has gained immense popularity for its ability to provide timely tools and features that cater to people’s day-to-day needs in today’s world.

Google gets an incredible 89.3 billion visits per month, which shows how popular it is. The reason behind this popularity lies in Google’s ability to understand and cater to the needs of both consumers and businesses.

They serve both parties with plenty of useful tools and platforms. One such tool or platform is Google Shopping Ads.

46% of people start their product search on Google, and it is estimated that 95% will shop online by 2040. To match up with that, Google continues to innovate and enhance its eCommerce tools within its platform, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition.

By consistently offering more effective eCommerce tools, Google aims to provide businesses with the necessary resources to thrive in the ever-evolving online marketplace.

Hence the birth of Google Shopping.

If you have a WooCommerce store, you must list your products on this platform.

Why?

• Google’s shopping platform has a staggering 1.2 billion monthly searches.
• Google Shopping ads drive 76% of retail search ad dollars.
• In the United States, Google Shopping ads receive 85.3% of all clicks.

You can reach a large audience by listing your WooCommerce products on Google Shopping, increasing your chances of conversions and overall sales.

In this article, we will find out what Google Shopping is, how to create a product feed for Google Shopping, and discuss Google Shopping feed optimization in detail.

Google Shopping is basically a price comparison engine. When a user searches for a product on this site, it returns a full list of similar products from different brands.

The user then can compare prices and other features and select the product entry they want to buy. They can view some more details by clicking on the listings.

They can also refine their search through different filters. Google redirects buyers to the brand/store’s product page, where they can finish the purchase.

As a WooCommerce store owner, you can list your products on this platform for absolutely free. In addition, you can also run paid Shopping ads in this engine as well. The ads appear at the top of free listings and have a better chance of getting clicked.

People can visit Google Shopping by going to the official site. Or they can also visit it by clicking the Shop tab from the search engine result page.

However, the shop tab will only appear when someone searches for a product.

To list your WooCommerce products on Google Shopping, you will primarily need two things.

1. A Google Merchant Center account
2. A WooCommerce Google Shopping product feed

If you want to run Shopping ads, you will need a Google Ads account as well.

Creating a GMC (Google Merchant Center) account is pretty straightforward. You can sign up or log in with your Gmail.

After you complete the initial steps, you need to complete the following steps.

The most important thing for listing your products is a Google Shopping product data feed. We will learn about it in detail now.

Google Shopping product feed is a structured data file that contains information about the products you want to advertise on Google Shopping. It provides Google with details such as the product title, description, price, availability, brand, and other relevant attributes.

In the simplest words, it’s a spreadsheet file like what you see in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel file. It contains all your WooCommerce product details.

The feed allows you to showcase your products in Google’s search results and across various Google platforms, such as Google Shopping, Google Ads, and Google Images.

The product feed is typically created as a formatted file, following specific guidelines provided by Google, such as XML or CSV formats. It needs to be submitted to Google Merchant Center, a platform where you manage your product data for Google Shopping campaigns.

Google uses the information from your product feed to determine when and where your products appear in search results based on relevance to user queries and bids.

By maintaining an accurate and up-to-date product feed, you can optimize your product listings for better visibility, reach a wider audience, and drive more qualified traffic to your online store.

It’s essential to regularly update your feed to reflect any changes in your product inventory, pricing, or availability to ensure accurate and relevant information is displayed to potential customers.

Every channel has specific guidelines and attribute requirements for its feed file. Attributes are simply the column headers in the spreadsheet under which you need to paste your product details.

Here are the required attributes for Google Shopping,

• ID: Unique identifier for each product
• Title: Product name
• Description: Product description
• Link: Landing page URL for each product
• Image_link: URL of an image of the product
• Availability: Current availability of the product
• Price: Price of the product
• Brand: Brand name of the product
• GTIN (Global Trade Item Number): Unique product identifier, such as UPC, EAN, or ISBN
• MPN (Manufacturer Part Number): Unique identifier assigned by the manufacturer to the product
• Condition: Condition of the product, such as new, used, or refurbished

While these are mandatory, other attributes, such as color, size, and shipping details, are recommended and can boost your product’s discoverability and performance in Google Shopping. If you want your Google Shopping product listings to be more accurate and relevant, you should include as much detail about the product as possible.

You already know the attributes you need. You can insert those attributes in a spreadsheet file and copy-paste your WooCommerce product data underneath them.

However, this process is completely manual and comes with a number of challenges. Most importantly, this method is prone to errors.

Let’s find out why you shouldn’t create a Google Shopping product feed manually.

Having 30 to 100 or more products makes it more difficult to copy and paste all data into the feed file. If you regularly add new products or make changes to the existing ones, managing this feed will become even more of a nightmare.

To maintain current information in your GMC listings or ads, you will need to update the file and re-upload it regularly.

Google Shopping rejected 7% of product feeds due to major errors in 2022. The most common reasons for these declines were discovered to be shipping preferences, product pictures, and Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN).

Some product attributes, such as GTIN, MPN, Brand, etc., do not have dedicated fields in WooCommerce. Adding them as custom fields in WooCommerce is a technical undertaking.

Google will reject a product listing if the wrong GTIN values are provided, but there are no consequences for omitting GTINs. There are two main causes for the 5.53 percent of submitted GTINs that are affected by this problem as of 2022.

First, 4.13 percent of products have the same GTIN used for more than one item. Second, 1.4% of products have invalid GTINs because of incorrect submissions.

Consequently, it will be difficult to manually enter data into your feed file even if you create custom fields in WooCommerce.

The most difficult part of setting up product feed is shipping; this alone is responsible for 23.49 percent of all product rejections. Submitting incorrectly large values for the [shipping_weight] attribute and failing to specify other attributes, like the shipping country, are the most common causes of failure.

Using a WooCommerce product feed plugin will streamline the generation and integration of a feed with Google Shopping. CTX Feed is among the most effective WooCommerce Google Shopping product feed plugins.

CTX Feed removes all the hassles and challenges we mentioned above with a couple of clicks. Yes, it’s that simple with this plugin.

Along with Google Shopping, it supports 130+ more channels to create product feeds. It has pre-made templates for all the channels and also has options for creating custom templates.

The templates are integrated with attribute guidelines. You only need to click the template and click generate button. CTX Feed will automatically bring in all the attributes for the channel and collect your WooCommerce data and generate the file.

Let’s create a Google Shopping product feed.

Install the free version from the Plugins directory.

Click on CTX Feed>>Make Feed.

It will take you to a new window.

Select your channel, which in our case is Google Shopping.

Select a file type.

As we said, the plugin will automatically populate all the fields or attributes for Google Shopping.

Click the generate button, and it will generate the Google Shopping feed with all your product data.

Now go to Manage Feeds. Here you will see the list of your feed files. This is also the place for Google shopping product feed management.

You can set automatic update intervals from here. This is one of the best features of this plugin.

When you set an update interval, the plugin will automatically update all your changes after that time. For example, if you set it to 1 hour, then the plugin will update all your feeds every hour.

Therefore, none of the changes you make on your Woo store will be missed, and all channels will display accurate information through the feed files.

From feed settings, you can copy the feed URL, download it or edit it, regenerate, view, or delete the file.

If you are still in the setup process, you can upload your feed file in the Add Products step. Select the Add Multiple Products at Once option.

Select your listing options.

Google Shopping offers multiple options to upload products.

Scheduled Fetch is the best option for eCommerce stores. By linking the URL this way, Google will automatically retrieve any new or updated product information from your WooCommerce store’s product feed file.

Give your file a name and copy-paste your WooCommerce Google Shopping product feed URL here.

Google will automatically import your product information at the scheduled time, or you can manually fetch it right away.

Optimizing your shopping feed for Google Shopping can greatly enhance the performance of your campaigns.

Let’s learn how to optimize Google shopping feed. Here are some tips to help you optimize feed for google shopping and maximize your results:

Keyword Research

Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant terms that shoppers use to search for products similar to yours. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your product titles and descriptions.

Negative Keywords

Utilize negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches and prevent your products from showing up in unrelated queries. This Google Shopping feed optimization technique helps improve the targeting and efficiency of your campaigns.

Accurate Product Titles

Use concise and descriptive titles that accurately represent your products. Include important details like brand, model, size, color, and material. Avoid excessive capitalization or promotional language.

Detailed Descriptions

Provide clear and detailed product descriptions within the character limit. Highlight key features, benefits, and unique selling points to entice shoppers.

High-Quality Images

Use high-resolution images that showcase your products from multiple angles. Optimize them for size and ensure they meet Google’s image requirements.

Correct Pricing

Display accurate and up-to-date pricing information in your feed. Avoid misleading or mismatched prices that could lead to customer dissatisfaction.

Relevant Attributes

Include all relevant product attributes such as size, color, material, and gender. This allows shoppers to filter and find your products more easily.

Product Categorization

Optimize Google shopping feed with proper categories.

Choose the most accurate and specific product categories for your items. Proper categorization increases the visibility of your products in relevant searches and ensures they appear in the right sections of Google Shopping.

Unique Product Identifiers

Use unique product identifiers like GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers), MPNs (Manufacturer Part Numbers), or brand-specific identifiers whenever possible. These help Google match your products to user queries more accurately.

Availability and Shipping Details

Specify product availability and shipping information clearly. If a product is out of stock, remove it from your feed to avoid disappointing potential customers.

Structured Data Markup

Implement structured data markups, such as Schema.org or JSON-LD, to provide additional product information and improve visibility in search results.

Custom Labels

Utilize custom labels to categorize and group your products based on specific attributes that are important to your business. This allows for better campaign management and bid optimization.

Optimal Bids and Budgets

Regularly review and adjust your bids and budgets based on performance data. Allocate more budget to high-converting products and adjust bids to maximize exposure for profitable items.

Regular Feed Updates

Keep your product feed up to date by regularly updating it with the latest information on pricing, availability, and product attributes. This ensures that customers see accurate and relevant information.

Test and Monitor Performance

Continuously monitor your campaign performance, test different strategies, and make data-driven Google Shopping feed optimization. Analyze metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend to identify areas for improvement.

By following these Google shopping product feed optimization tips, you can enhance the visibility, relevance, and performance of your product feed, ultimately driving more qualified traffic to your online store and increasing sales.

Billion people every month use Google Shopping to compare prices of the goods they want to buy. Listing and promoting products on this site is, therefore, a direct method of communicating with consumers.

This can have a major impact on your conversion rate. Through this massive network, you can directly challenge your competitors and advance your reputation and business.

That’s why it’s crucial to your business’s success to advertise your Woo products there. That’s why it’s so important to have a WooCommerce Google product feed with accurate information.

You need to make sure you optimize Google shopping data feed for the best outcome possible.

Visit our eCommerce PPC library for more valuable insights.

We hope this article on Google Shopping feed optimization was of help to you. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions.