Integration with Google Merchant Center for a website and online store
Google Merchant Center accepts your store's catalog and passes it to Google Shopping and other Google services. The buyer sees the product's photo, price and availability right in the search results, and the integration keeps this data up to date.
- a product feed with title, description, price, availability, photo, brand, SKU and GTIN code;
- verification of the store domain, setup of shipping and return policies;
- automatic scheduled updates of prices and stock without manual edits;
- diagnostics: a list of disapproved products with reasons and fixes;
- a link between Merchant Center and Google Ads for Shopping campaigns;
- Schema.org markup on product pages that matches the feed data.
How Google Merchant Center works
Google Merchant Center is the account where a store uploads its product catalog. Google checks the data against its rules and shows approved products in Google Shopping and in search with a photo, price and availability. Integration with Google Merchant Center builds this catalog from your website and keeps it up to date.
Owners search for Google Merchant Center setup, feed for Google Shopping and product disapproved in Merchant Center. Service availability and rules depend on the country and the product category, so we check Google's current terms before we start.
What Merchant Center setup includes
- a product feed with the required attributes: ID, title, description, link, photo, price, availability;
- brand, GTIN and SKU for products that have them;
- Google categories for the product groups of your catalog;
- website verification, shipping and return policies in the account;
- a feed update schedule for prices and stock;
- analysis of errors in the diagnostics section and data fixes;
- a link with Google Ads to launch Google Shopping.
The price and availability in the feed must match the data on the product page; otherwise Google disapproves the items.
How we connect Google Merchant Center
From you we need access to the Google account for Merchant Center, access to the store admin panel, complete product data (brand, photos, codes) and pages with delivery, payment and return terms. Horoshop has a built-in export for Google Shopping and Merchant Center, so we configure it and check the fields. On WordPress we use a plugin or a feed generator, and on a custom website we generate the file on a schedule.
The work goes in four steps:
- an audit of the catalog and fields;
- setting up the feed and the account;
- a diagnostics check on real products;
- launch and handling of disapprovals.
Cost of Merchant Center setup
We calculate the cost of the setup after a free consultation and a review of the catalog: it depends on the platform, the number of products and the quality of the data. We register the Merchant Center account and ad accounts to you and state the final amount in the contract. We set up product ads separately, and we also calculate their cost after a consultation and an audit: details are on the Google Shopping and Google Ads pages. A new online store costs from $500.
Questions and answers
Do I need Merchant Center for Google Shopping?
Yes, Google Shopping works with the catalog uploaded to Merchant Center. Product ads take their data from this account.
Why does Google disapprove products?
Typical reasons: a price or availability mismatch between the feed and the website, missing required attributes, images that don't meet the requirements. The diagnostics in the account show the reason for each product.
How often is the feed updated?
We set the schedule to fit your range and Google's requirements. The main thing is that the price and availability in the feed match the website at every moment.
Does the connection guarantee impressions and sales?
No. Google checks every product and account against its own rules and may disapprove items. The connection prepares the data for display, and the result depends on your range, prices and competition.