Google Ads doesn't know what you're selling, whether it's in stock, or how much you charge for a particular product. You must 'feed' Google with this information. To provide all this information to Google, you must have a Google Merchant Center account.
Using your Merchant Center account, you can upload a shopping Feed with information about all the products you want to sell (availability, price, color, etc.). This tells Google what's in your product catalog and what information should be in your ads.
Google Merchant Center is an online dashboard where online businesses manage their appearance on all Google e-commerce products and make changes to their online listings as needed.
The primary purpose of Google Merchant Center is to allow businesses to upload and maintain product information, including images and prices, for display in relevant Google Shopping searches. Google Merchant Center also integrates with other Google services such as Google My Business to allow robust oversight and control of Google-based marketing and e-commerce.
Merchant Center also serves as a source of information for free, organic product listings that Google recently offered on the Google Shopping Tab.
Manage All Google Interactions
After successfully completing a business setup process, Google Merchant Center – along with connected services – provides several benefits.
Correct Google Shopping Lists: Buyers searching for products on Google will see the business' offers in a catalog-like format, increasing visibility.
Google Ads Integration: Every product in Google Merchant Center can be linked to specific Ads ads quickly and easily. Remarketing techniques can also be used to remind visitors of previously viewed products.
Google Analytics Support: Analytics users can add a custom segment that keeps their statistics separate from other targets specifically for Google Merchant Center targeting.
Online Product Reviews: Public reviews of products are integrated into listings, with star ratings appearing as part of the listings. 4.5 and 5 star products receive preferential placement.
Direct Website Funnels: Buyers who click on public listings can be taken directly to the shop page on an e-commerce site.
Google Local Search Integration: Entries can include geotagging that directs buyers to nearby local stores.
How Google Merchant Center Works
- You will need a Google Account to be able to create a Merchant Center Account. If you already have an account (like a Gmail account or a Google My Business account), you can use it.
- Requires a verified website and business within Google My Business, which requires compliance with various Google guidelines, such as a valid physical address, contact number, technical support, and providing a secure payment process.
- Next, you must provide your product information in a format that meets Google's Feed requirements. Some of the attributes you should include for each product in your Data Feed are a unique product ID, title, a link to the product on your website, price, a link to an image for the product, and a description. Requires full product data, including pricing, availability, and shipping information in a Google-acceptable format, such as TXT or XML files derived from Excel spreadsheets. In some cases, it is also possible to import product data from an existing e-commerce platform.
- To run Shopping Ads, you need to link your Google Merchant Center account to your Google Ads account.
- The integration offered by the e-commerce platform must be done to synchronize all the data required by GMC.
Does Google Merchant Center Have Any Cost?
The Google Merchant Center (GMC) account is free to set up and use. While advertisers can choose to use it exclusively for free product listings in the Google Shopping tab, the primary reason for having a GMC account is usually to run Shopping Ads (a paid form of product ads).
If you run Google Shopping Ads, you will be billed through your Google Ads account.
What Is Google Merchant Center Used For?
In short, Google Merchant Center is used to support your Google Shopping campaigns, local inventory ads and Shopping Actions promotions.
Google Shopping
As I mentioned in the introduction, although Google Merchant Center has been discontinued in Turkey, it is best known for its link to Google Shopping. You cannot run Google Shopping campaigns without up-to-date and optimized product information stored in Google Merchant Center.
Local Inventory Ads
Your Google Merchant Center account is for more than shopping campaigns; It can also be used to support local inventory ads. With a local inventory ad, you can let willing shoppers know that they can find the products they're looking for in a nearby real-life store.
Shopping Actions
The last use of Google Merchant Center I want to talk about is Shopping Actions. In Google's description, Shopping Actions is a 'shopping program that allows retailers to showcase their products across different Google platforms and provides a seamless experience for consumers using a shareable list, universal shopping cart and instant checkout'. Basically, by joining the Shopping Actions program, you have the power to sell products on Google Shopping, Google Images, YouTube and voice search.
Benefits of Google Merchant Center
A Merchant Center account provides an important advantage: it is a gateway to advertise your products with Google Shopping. It allows you to store essential product information needed to create your product ads and present them to potential customers.
Without Google Merchant Center (GMC), your products won't appear on Google Shopping. Also, you cannot create Product Ads unless you have added sufficient product information to your GMC account.
If you sell products directly to consumers, Google Merchant Center is one of the tools you need. It should be an integral part of your overall digital marketing strategy.
Feed Basics
After verifying your website, you need to submit your Google Shopping Feed (a list of all your product details).
There are three ways to do this:
Option 1: Plugin / Extension / Application
If you're running your store on a popular platform like Shopify or WooCommerce, you'll have plenty of alternatives to choose from.
Some of these tools will use the Google Merchant Center API. It simply means that your product data will be automatically transferred to the right place. If your app doesn't connect to GMC, you'll likely get a feed URL.
Option 2: Upload Your Own Feed
If you need to upload your own Feed to Google Merchant Center, you must ensure that you submit all values correctly.
Clue: If you're using manual upload or Google Sheets, I highly recommend starting with a test Feed. If you use the standard feed and are a little slow to fix any errors that come up, you risk getting your account suspended.
The test data Feed allows you to discover bugs and fix them before everything is 'submitted for real'. Afterwards, simply upload it to the standard Feed.
Option 3: Google Sheets
This last option is the most manual. Google Merchant Center provides a product Feed template with some instructions on how to fill in all your information.
I would recommend this for smaller online stores with a few products that rarely change, as you will need to update this file every time a product changes.
One of the most important things about your Data Feed is keeping it up to date. So choosing an option (1 or 2) that does this automatically is a huge advantage.
Shipping Settings
In addition to uploading your Product Feed, you'll also need to provide Google Merchant Center with details about your store's shipping and tax settings.
You can do this at the product level or store-wide. Keep in mind that you'll only need to make one change if something changes, such as a free shipping promotion or new free shipping minimums.
Make sure you keep this up to date. Because the shipping fee or free shipping notification can appear in every ad. So if there is still outdated information out there, you may be attracting clicks from your competitors.
Take a look at the ranking of the Google Shopping ad below:
Prices are quite different, but beware of the impact of 'Free Shipping' and '+10€ Shipping'. These are very likely to affect where someone clicks.
Go to Shipping settings in Google Merchant Center and verify that the information is up to date:
For tax settings, click 'Tax' in the left-hand navigation menu: The good news is that you only need to set rules for states where you charge sales tax (usually states where you only have a physical store).
Depending on the complexity of your shipping rules, shipping settings may require a bit more work. Click 'Submission' in the left-hand navigation, as Google will not allow you to run any shopping campaigns until you add this information.
