Google & YouTube channel requirements

To use the Google & YouTube channel, your Shopify store needs to meet a few requirements.

Store requirements

To use the Google & YouTube channel, you need to make sure that your online store meets the Google Merchant Center requirements:

  • You need a Shopify online store, and your store can't be password-protected.
  • You need to add a valid payment provider in your Shopify admin.
  • You need to add a Refund Policy and Terms of Service to your online store. Learn more about adding your store policies to Shopify. These policies must be available in your footer navigation menu. If you haven't added your store policies to the footer navigation menu, then click Add the refund policy and terms of service to your footer navigation menu in the setup checklist.
  • You need to add your contact information to a page in your online store, and the information needs to be visible to customers. You need to include at least one contact method such as email address, phone number, mailing address, or a contact form. Learn more about adding your contact information.
  • You need to ship to one of the supported countries, and you need to sell in a currency that matches the country.

Depending on the country where you ship your products, you might also need to set up your shipping rates to meet Google Merchant Center requirements.

During setup, you can view a checklist of tasks that you need to complete so that your store meets the Google Merchant Center requirements. You can click the link beside a requirement to go to the page in Shopify where you can complete the associated tasks.

Adding your contact information

The Google Merchant Center has strict guidelines for displaying your contact information on your customer-facing website. Ensure that at least one of the following pieces of information about your business are visible to your customers:

  • mailing address
  • phone number
  • email address
  • contact form

If you don't have this information readily available on your store and you're unsure of where to display this information, then refer to Pages to learn how to add an About us page to your store.

Google account requirements

To set up the Google & YouTube channel, you need to have a Google account. To sync products, you also require a Google Merchant Center account. Google Merchant Center is a tool that helps you upload your store and product data to Google and make them available for Google Performance Max campaigns and other Google services. Learn more about Google Merchant Center.

If you don't have Google accounts, then you can create them when you set up the Google & YouTube channel.

A Google Merchant Center account needs to be associated with a verified domain that isn't associated with another account. When you connect a Google Merchant Center account to the Google & YouTube channel, your Shopify store's domain is claimed automatically, unless it's associated with a different Google account. If your domain is associated with a different Google Merchant Center account, then you can transfer the domain claim to the Google Merchant Center account that you connected to Shopify.

Considerations before syncing an existing Google Merchant Center account with Shopify

When you set up the Google & YouTube channel and connect an existing Google Merchant Center account, the following information syncs from your Shopify store to Google:

  • your online store domain
  • product information for the products that are available to your online store
  • relevant Shopify store settings like shipping and taxes

Any changes that you make to your settings in Google Merchant Center could affect the Google & YouTube channel's ability to sync your accounts and any Google Performance Max campaigns you're running.

The Google & YouTube channel syncs your products in a separate step after your Merchant Center account is connected. If you already have a product feed set up, then it's overwritten to avoid conflicts between your Shopify store and your Merchant Center account. For more information about managing which products are synced, refer to Syncing your products.

Shipping requirements

Depending on where you ship your products, you might need to set up your shipping rates to meet the Google & YouTube channel requirements before you can use the app. Learn more about the required shipping settings from Google Merchant Center Help.

The Google & YouTube channel supports carrier-calculated shipping rates for certain shipping carriers and services in Australia, Germany, and the United States. Confirm which shipping carriers and services Google supports on the Google Merchant Help Center. If you use an unsupported shipping carrier or live in another country or region, then you need to use custom flat shipping rates.

If your target country is supported by Google, and you need to add shipping rates for the Google & YouTube channel, then you can choose to automatically import the shipping settings from your Shopify store. Otherwise, you can set up your shipping rates manually in Google Merchant Center. Review the following considerations before you import your store's shipping settings into the Google & YouTube channel:

  • You can import rates to ship your products only to the target country in your Google & YouTube channel.
  • You need to have a shipping zone set up in your general shipping profile for the country where you ship products.
  • To ensure that your product listings have accurate estimated delivery dates, Google calculates the shipping time and handling time for your shipping rates based on the following criteria:
    • If your store has custom flat rates with transit time, then the shipping time in Google Merchant Center is based on the transit time that is set in your Shipping and delivery settings.
    • If you aren't using custom flat rates with transit time, then the shipping time is based on the typical shipping times in your region.
    • By default, your handling time is based on the average handling time for Shopify merchants.

Automatically import shipping settings from your store

If you have a shipping zone set up for the country where you ship products, then you can automatically import shipping settings from your store.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
  2. From the Apps and sales channels page, click Google.
  3. Click Open sales channel.

  4. Click Overview > Settings.

  5. In the Product feed section, click Select beside Shipping settings.

  6. Under Configure shipping settings, select Automatically import settings. Shopify tests whether your shipping settings can be imported from your store:

Any time your store's shipping settings are updated, the changes are automatically reimported to Google Merchant Center.

Product requirements

Google requires specific information about your products before you can publish them on Google. The Google & YouTube channel imports your existing product data from Shopify, but you might need to add some additional information before you can sync products with Google Merchant Center.

Most products only need the following information added:

Google also has specific requirements for the following product categories:

  • Apparel & accessories
  • Media
  • Books

Product options, including variants, need to be in English to sync with Google.

Google Product Category

To ensure that your products are categorized accurately on Google, you should add a Google Product Category to products. If you don't add a product category, then Google automatically assigns a category to the product, but you might encounter errors. To learn more, refer to Google's guide to product categories.

Unique product identifiers

Google requires you to have a unique product identifier for each of your products. These identifiers let Google match your product with similar products on Google Shopping. If these identifiers aren't correct, then Google doesn't publish your products and your account could be suspended. Learn more about unique product identifiers from Google Merchant Center Help.

If a product has a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), then you need to add it before you can publish the product. You can add a GTIN in the details of a product variant.

For products without a GTIN, you need to add an MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) and brand to the product data in the Google & YouTube channel.

Specific Google Product Category requirements

Google has specific requirements for products that are in the Apparel & accessories, Media, or Books Google Product Categories. When you select a category for a product in the Google & YouTube channel, you need to add this additional product information.

Apparel and accessories product requirements

Products in the Apparel & accessories category might require specific product data before they will be published. To determine if you need to include the product data, review Google Merchant Center Help guidelines for the following attributes:

Media product requirements

Products in the Music, Movies, or Video games categories are required to have a UPC, EAN, or JAN as the unique product identifier. Learn more about Google unique product identifiers from Google Merchant Center Help.

Book product requirements

Products in the Books category are required to have an ISBN as the unique product identifier. Learn more about Google unique product identifiers from Google Merchant Center Help.

When your Shopify products display in Google ads, Google Merchant Center automatically converts the product price to a customer's local currency. Customers who click a Google ad are directed to a product page that displays the currency and price to match the ad. Learn more about currency conversion for the Google & YouTube channel from Google Merchant Center Help.

Manually set your shipping settings in Google Merchant Center

If you want to set your shipping rates manually in Google Merchant Center, then you need to set your shipping settings to manual in your Google sales channel.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
  2. From the Apps and sales channels page, click Google.
  3. Click Open sales channel.

  4. Click Overview > Settings.

  5. In the Product feed section, click Select beside Shipping settings.

  6. Under Configure shipping settings, select Manually set up shipping settings in Google Merchant Center.

After you change your shipping settings in your Google & YouTube channel, you can set up your shipping rates manually in Google Merchant Center. If you want to remove the estimated delivery date from Google product listings, then make sure that the Handling time field is empty.

Getting help with Google products

Contact Google to get help with the following topics:

  • Your Google Merchant Center account
  • Google Ads
  • Buy on Google
  • Google Local Inventory
  • Google Analytics
  • Other Google topics not supported by Shopify

You can contact Shopify Support to get help downloading the Google & YouTube channel or setting up products.

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