Guide · E-commerce
Google Merchant Center: How to Set Up Free Listings
Google Merchant Center is the free tool that lets a store send its product data to Google. This guide shows the steps to create a feed, meet the rules and opt in to free listings. It uses Google's own help pages.
What Google Merchant Center does
Google Merchant Center is where a store tells Google what it sells. You upload product data, and Google uses it to show your items in shopping results. The same data can power paid Shopping ads and free listings.
Free listings let shoppers see your products across Google at no cost. Google names the Shopping tab, YouTube, Google Search, Google Images and Google Lens as places they can appear. Google also says it does not guarantee that any product will show.
Google announced the free option on 21 April 2020. Search results on the Shopping tab would then be mostly free listings. The change reached the United States first, and Google said it aimed to expand it globally by the end of that year. Merchants with an existing account did not have to do anything extra in the United States.
The Merchant Center help pages now cover two versions of the tool: the classic experience and Merchant Center Next. Check the logo at the top of each help article to see which one it describes.
Sources: Google Merchant Center Help, Show your products for free on Google; Google, List your products on Google Shopping for free (21 April 2020)
What you need before you start
Free listings have rules. Meet these before you upload anything.
- Follow Google's shopping policies for free listings.
- Add your return policy to your website. Google also recommends adding it in Merchant Center.
- Set up shipping settings, or add shipping costs in the product data. Google asks for this in a list of countries that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany and France.
Google also recommends that your product data matches your website. If a price on your site differs from the price in your feed, shoppers see two answers. Keep them the same.
Good site basics help too. Google points merchants to its search guidelines to improve how the site shows in results.
Sources: Google Merchant Center Help, Show your products for free on Google
The product data you must send
Every product needs a few core fields. Google lists these as required for free listings:
- ID, a unique code for each product.
- Title, which names the product clearly.
- Description, which explains it in plain words.
- Link, the page where a shopper can buy it.
- Image link, the web address of the main photo.
- Price, with the currency.
- Availability, such as in stock, out of stock, pre-order or backorder.
Some fields depend on the product. Add the brand when the product has one. Add the GTIN, which is the barcode number the maker assigned. If a product has no GTIN, add its manufacturer part number instead. Add the condition when an item is used or refurbished.
The image should be large enough and should not carry promotional text. The price must match the landing page and the checkout. Google does not allow a price of zero for most products. Read the full product data specification before you build a large file.
Sources: Google Merchant Center Help, Show your products for free on Google; Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification
How to create a feed and opt in
A feed is a file that lists your products and their attributes. Merchant Center offers several ways to supply one.
- A primary feed is the main source of your product list. If it meets the rules, you may not need another.
- A supplemental feed only updates data that already sits in a primary feed.
- Automated feeds let Google read schema.org markup on your website, where this option appears in your account.
- The Content API for Shopping suits large catalogs or frequent changes. Google strongly recommends it for many feeds or frequent updates.
If you use a platform partner, such as a store builder, the partner may send the data for you through the Content API. In that case, changes go through the partner's own dashboard.
To opt in, follow the path that fits your account.
- New account: choose free listings when you submit your product data.
- Existing account: sign in, click Products, then Feeds. Look for "Free listings" in the Destination column.
- Not listed? Select the feed, open Settings, and tick "Free listings" under Destinations.
Google suggests sending your whole inventory to get the most reach.
Sources: Google Merchant Center Help, Show your products for free on Google; Google Merchant Center Help, About feeds
Check for problems and keep data fresh
After the first upload, open the Diagnostics section under the Products tab. It shows which items have errors and which fields need work. Fix these first. A product with missing data may be disapproved and will not show.
Google may also use content from your website that it has crawled, even when you have not sent a feed or added markup. You can control this with crawl and indexing controls, and you can opt out at any time.
Plan a routine. Update stock and prices when they change, because Google compares your feed to your pages. Add more optional attributes over time, since richer data helps match products to searches. Google says it cannot give support on how listings are served or optimised, so good data is the part you control.
Sources: Google Merchant Center Help, Show your products for free on Google; Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification
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