Google Shopping Checklist: Do's and Don'ts

Google Shopping is an online shopping platform that allows users to search and compare products from various retailers. Advertising on the platform enables you to reach a large customer base when they are actively looking for your products, increasing your chances of making a sale. However, Google has certain requirements when it comes to advertising your products on their platforms.

Read on to learn the do’s and don’ts of formatting your product data for Google Shopping.

Image link:  

Product images can increase engagement and strengthen your visual brand image, and Google has some very specific requirements to help you get the most out of your Google Shopping ads.

• Meet the image size requirements
• Display the entire product without any distractions on the image
• Link to the main product image
• Use a white background to make the products easy to see
• Upload high-quality images
   

• Include watermarks, borders or promotional text
• Overstep file size limits (e.g. 64 megapixels or 16 MB)
• Use URLs that can’t be crawled by Google
• Use images that aren’t representative of the product and can mislead shoppers
  
  

Title: 

Choosing the right title is crucial because it’s one of the first things customers see when they’re searching for new products. The information in your titles is also part of what allows Google to match your products with the right searches.

• Use relevant keywords
• Make sure titles are 70 characters or less 
• Write descriptive titles using clear and concise language
• Mention brand, colour, size/material and product type

• Forget to be consistent with your product titles – make sure that your landing page and Google Shopping titles match
• Use abbreviations
• Make false or misleading claims in your product titles
  
  

Pro tip: Use clever rules to automatically check if brand and/or attributes are missing from your titles. If they are, the same automation can insert them without adding extra work for you. In WakeupData, this can be done with Field Conversions.

Description:

A great description can help you stand out from your competitors and generate sales by convincing your customers that your products are worth purchasing. Great descriptions aren’t just good for advertising – they’re an absolute must for good SEO results.

• Be sharp when writing your descriptions, describe your products in a way that benefits users and will encourage them to buy
• Match your description with your landing page
• Only include information that’s accurate and up to date
• Highlight key features (e.g. durability, design, comfort) that set your product apart from others
• Only write about your products, don’t talk about the company, etc.
  
  

• Include links in your description
• Forget to include important details (e.g. size, shape, pattern, texture, design, material, intended age range, special features, technical specs)
• Copy and paste from other sources such as the manufacturer’s website
• Write descriptions that are too short  (the limit is  1 - 5 000 characters)

Availability:

Stating the availability status is important to show shoppers that they can actually purchase the product. This will also give them an idea of when to expect delivery.

• Submit an accurate product availability status
• Make sure to match your Google Shopping products’ availability with your landing page 
• Use values accepted by Google such as ‘in_stock’, ‘out_of_stock’, ‘preorder’ 
• Consider using a ‘back-in-stock’ notification system to let customers know when a product they’re interested in is available again
  
  

• Forget to include an estimated availability date 
• Advertise products as preorder that are not brand new, and don’t forget to add the availability date
• Use vague language such as ‘usually/sometimes in stock,’ which can confuse shoppers
   

Price:

Price is an important factor for online shoppers, who often choose products based solely on price.

• Submit accurate price information
• Ensure that the product price is shown in the local currency of the target country 
• Keep your prices up to date
• Be transparent by informing customers of any additional costs
• Include VAT (i.e. value added tax)
  
  

• Forget to match the price with the landing and check-out pages
• Set ‘0’ as the price
• Make misleading claims about your prices

Pro tip: Here is our blog on how to fix price mismatch in Google Merchant Center

Product Identifiers (brand, GTIN, MPN, Identifier exists):

Unique product identifiers help identify your products in the global marketplaces.

• Add GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)/EAN (European Article Number) numbers, which can increase conversion rates and simplify warehousing
• Regularly update identifiers
• Remember to include the brand name because it creates consistency and can help increase brand loyalty
• Provide the correct brand to ensure a good user experience
• Use MPN for all products without a manufacturer-assigned GTIN
  
  

• Fill in this field if the product doesn’t have a specific brand (e.g. label is missing from a piece of clothing)
• Use the same identifier for multiple products
• Submit values like ‘does not exist’ or ‘no brand’
• Submit a GTIN if you’re not sure that it’s correct
• Don’t use a MPN value that you created yourself

Shipping:

Shipping costs and speeds are good differentiators, especially in Europe.

• Provide accurate shipping costs - rather overestimate than underestimate if you don’t know the exact price
• Add the shipping country - it is required (ISO country code)
• Include information about shipping speeds and locations
• If possible, provide tracking information to ensure that customers can see where their products are and when they’ll be delivered
  
  

• Forget to add the different shipping services that are available (e.g. home delivery, parcel pickup) although it is not mandatory, it can help the shoppers’ purchasing journey
• Wait too long to update shipping status – this can lead to a negative customer experience and Google can flag discrepancies between the webshop availability and the feed
  Pro tip: WakeupData can prevent that by using hourly updates
• Fail to include the shipping companies’ name – many customers have preferences 
  
  

Google product category:

Showing Google product category to your customers will minimise the chances of getting your products mistaken with others. What helps Google correctly create these automatically generated product categories is providing high-quality, on-topic titles and descriptions, accurate pricing, brand, and GTIN information.

• Include the category that best suits your product
• Be as specific as possible
• Follow Google’s recommendation to use the full path of the category over the numerical category
• Use only predefined Google product categories
• Use subcategories when it's appropriate to provide more specific details about your products
  
  

• Include more than one category
• Create your own product categories that are not part of the Google taxonomy
• Use incorrect and misleading categories to increase product visibility
• Use too many subcategories, which can confuse shoppers

Pro tip: You can use WakeupData Actions to add Google categories/taxonomy to your feed. This ensures that the categories match the right shopper search queries, leading to the maximal number of impressions and clicks from your Google ads.

Summary

As you would have guessed by now, sending the correct and up-to-date information to Google is absolutely key to be competitive.

By following the guidelines above, you can ensure that you’re providing sufficient data to Google and that your ads have the best chance of being shown and converted to sales. We know that this can be a time-consuming task, but fear not,  we are here to help you all the way! 

To learn more about optimising and managing your product data and product feeds, book a demo with  one of our feed experts and see how we can help you get started.