Syncing your products
The Google & YouTube channel syncs products that are available to your online store with Google Merchant Center. To publish your products on Google and use them in Performance Max campaigns, you need to add required product data. You can also optimize your product titles and descriptions for Google Shopping search listings by using the Google & YouTube channel.
For eligible stores selling in the United States, products synced to Google Merchant Center using the Google & YouTube channel can appear in relevant Google Shopping tab search listings for free.
To view the status of your products or change your account settings go to the Google & YouTube channel in Shopify.
On this page
Make products available to the Google & YouTube channel
When you set up the Google & YouTube channel for the first time, all of the products that are available to your online store are automatically synced with Google Merchant Center. If you prefer to choose which products to sync, then you can change the availability of a single product manually or do a bulk action to change the availability for several products. Learn more about making products available to channels and apps.
Add product data
Google uses product data to help categorize your synced products on Google. Some of the data that Google can use isn't available from a product's details and needs to be added from the Google & YouTube channel. The following product data is added to a product from the Bulk Editor in the Google & YouTube channel:
- Whether a product is a custom product - Custom products aren't required to have a unique product identifier such as a GTIN, unlike other products. If your product doesn't have a unique product identifier, then you need to indicate that it's a custom product before it will be approved.
- Google Product Category - You can add a Google Product Category to a product to improve its performance in Google Ads and Performance Max or Performance Max campaigns.
- Custom labels - You can add custom labels for Age, Gender, or Condition to help Google categorize a product.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
From the Apps and sales channels page, click Google.
Click Open sales channel.
In the Product Status section, select Manage Products. This opens up the bulk editor
In the Custom product attribute, select a value of True (is custom) or False (is not custom).
If your product doesn't have a GTIN or MPN because it's a custom product, then in the Custom Products field, check True. Otherwise, check False.
Optional: Add custom labels for Age, Gender, or Condition.
Click Save.
Optimizing product titles and descriptions for Google Shopping
The keywords that you use in your product titles and descriptions can help customers to find your products on Google Shopping.
When you're syncing products to Google Shopping, you can either sync your product titles and descriptions, or use the title tag and meta description from the search engine listing. You might want to use the search engine listing title tag and meta description so that you can include more keywords for search engine optimization on Google Shopping without changing the product information in your online store. Learn more about optimizing product titles and descriptions from Google Merchant Center Help.
To use title tags and meta descriptions for your products on Google Shopping, first you need to select the preference from the Google & YouTube channel.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
From the Apps and sales channels page, click Google.
Click Open sales channel.
Go to Setting.
In the PRODUCT TITLE PREFERENCE section, select SEO product title to use the search engine optimized product tag for your products on Google Shopping.
In the PRODUCT DESCRIPTION PREFERENCE section, select SEO product description to use the search engine optimized meta description for your products on Google.
You can view and edit the search engine optimized title tag and meta description from a product's details page. Learn more about adding keywords for search engine optimization.
Discounts
Discounts created in your Shopify admin sync to Google ads, free listings, and Buy on Google. Percentage, fixed amount, and automatic discount codes sync to Google. Buy X get Y discounts don't sync to Google. If you want to offer buy x get y discounts, then you need to set them up in your Google Merchant Center.
Learn more about creating and managing promotions on the Google sales channel on Google Merchant Center Help.
You can manage which discounts are available to the Google sales channel in your Shopify admin. You can also manage your promotions in Google Merchant Center. Learn how to edit a promotion or or change promotion status on Google Merchant Center Help.
Learn more about Promotions on Google Merchant Center Help.
Product status
The Google & YouTube channel displays the status of your products on the Google & Youtube > Products page in Shopify. There are three possible product statuses:
- Not approved - Products with the Not approved status might not be synced with the Google Merchant Center because of one or more errors or missing product data.
- Pending - Products with the Pending status have changes in Shopify that have not yet been synced to the Google Merchant Center.
- Approved - Products with the Approved status are successfully synced to the Google Merchant Center.
To solve product errors, click the product name to make changes in the product details page to suit the Google Merchant Center product requirements. When you make a change to a product it's automatically synced with the Google Merchant Center.
Changes to the products' information in Shopify can cause successfully synced products to have errors and warnings. Check the Google & YouTube channel periodically to make sure that your products continue to sync.
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 make sure 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. Read Google's guide to product categories to learn more.
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, see Google Merchant Center Help guidelines for the following:
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.