Your Feed Is the Ad Inventory
Google Merchant Center reads a product feed—often CSV or TSV—to power Shopping ads and free listings. If required attributes are missing or IDs change, products get disapproved and spend stops working overnight.
Treat the feed like production config: versioned, validated, and boring.
Required vs Important Attributes
Always confirm the current Google product data specification—requirements evolve by country and category. These are the usual backbone fields.
| Attribute | Role |
|---|---|
| id | Stable unique ID in your feed |
| title | Product title |
| description | Clear product description |
| link | Product landing page URL |
| image_link | Main image URL |
| availability | in stock / out of stock / preorder… |
| price | Number + currency (e.g., 15.00 USD) |
| brand / gtin / mpn | Identifiers as required for your products |
| condition | new / refurbished / used |
Step-by-Step: Build a Clean Feed File
From catalog to Merchant Center.
- Export products from Shopify, WooCommerce, or your PIM.
- Map columns to Google’s attribute names exactly.
- Keep id stable forever for each product/variant.
- Format price with currency code as specified.
- Ensure image and product links are publicly reachable HTTPS URLs.
- Save as UTF-8 CSV or tab-delimited text per your feed setting.
- Upload or schedule fetch in Merchant Center; fix diagnostics.
CSV vs TSV for Google
Merchant Center accepts delimited text feeds. Tabs often reduce quoting pain when descriptions contain commas. If you start from CSV, you can normalize with the CSV to Delimited Converter. Match whatever format you configured on the feed.
Variants and IDs
Each buyable variant generally needs its own feed row and id. Changing ids makes Google treat items as new products—history and performance reset. Use item_group_id to group variants when applicable.
Real-World Examples
Feed operations that stay healthy.
Shopify → Merchant Center
Store exports products CSV; ops maps to Google attributes, schedules daily fetch, monitors disapprovals for missing GTINs.
Apparel variants
Size/color variants as separate rows with shared item_group_id and unique ids/SKU-based keys.
Price mismatch fixes
Diagnostics show landing page price ≠ feed price; team aligns promo logic and re-uploads the same ids.
Common Mistakes
Disapprovals you can avoid.
- Unstable ids between uploads.
- Price without currency or with wrong format.
- Placeholder or blocked image URLs.
- Title stuffing that violates policies.
- Editing the feed in Excel and corrupting GTINs.
Best Practices
Feed hygiene checklist.
- Read Google’s product data specification for your target countries.
- Automate daily feeds when catalog changes often.
- Monitor Merchant Center diagnostics every upload.
- Keep GTINs/MPNs as text.
- Preview files in the Online CSV Editor before scheduling.
Why Use Convert CSV Online?
Convert CSV Online is free, browser-based, and requires no account for everyday conversions. Map and clean product exports, switch CSV/TSV delimiters, and convert to Excel for merchandising review before Merchant Center fetch. Client-side workflows work on Windows, macOS, and Linux browsers.
Catch bad rows early
Empty ids, broken links, and mangled GTINs are obvious in a grid—and expensive in ads.
Conclusion
Google Merchant Center CSV/TSV feeds win on stable ids, complete required attributes, and honest prices/availability. Build from the official spec, validate, and monitor diagnostics continuously.
FAQ
What is a Google Merchant Center product CSV?
A delimited product feed file listing attributes like id, title, price, and availability that Google uses for Shopping ads and listings.
Should I use CSV or TSV for Google Merchant Center?
Either can work—match the format configured on your feed. TSV often helps when descriptions contain commas.
Why are my products disapproved?
Common causes include missing required attributes, policy issues, price/availability mismatches, bad image links, or identifier problems. Check Merchant Center diagnostics.
Can I change the product id later?
Avoid it. Changing id usually creates a new item and resets association history. Keep ids stable.
How should price appear in the feed?
Follow Google’s specification—typically a numeric value with a currency code (for example, 15.00 USD).
How do I convert my store CSV into a Google feed?
Map your platform export columns to Google attribute names, clean in the Online CSV Editor, save UTF-8 CSV/TSV, then upload or schedule in Merchant Center.
References
Convert your CSV in the browser
Preview, clean, and convert CSV files free with Convert CSV Online—no installation and no account required for everyday conversions.