Did you know Google Shopping reigns supreme when it comes to paid advertising and sales channels available online?
Google Shopping is the most popular advertising choice for online retailers selling goods across all categories, including clothing and accessories, electronics, health and beauty, home furnishings, and more.
About 76.4% of retail search ad spend goes toward Google Shopping ads. This results in 85.3% of all clicks on AdWords or Google Shopping campaigns coming from these sources.
With a whopping 1.2 billion monthly searches, Google Shopping is surely one channel you simply cannot ignore. And if you have a WooCommerce store, you can reach millions of potential customers without even spending on ads through Google Shopping organic listings.
Whether you list your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping for free or run paid promotions, you will need a Google product feed for WooCommerce.
In this article, we will discuss Google Shopping and product feed in detail and walk you through the steps to creating a WooCommerce Google product feed.
Let’s dive in.
What is Google Shopping, and How to List WooCommerce Products in Google Shopping?
Google Shopping is an online platform where users can search for products from various retailers. It is a price comparison shopping engine that allows users to compare prices and find the best deals.
When a user searches for a product, Google Shopping displays relevant listings with images, descriptions, and prices. Users can refine their search results by applying filters such as price range, brand, and seller ratings.
Google Shopping also provides links to the retailer’s website where users can make a purchase. It is a convenient tool for shoppers to explore options, compare prices, and make informed buying decisions.
Retailers like you can participate in Google Shopping by creating product listings and optimizing them to appear prominently in search results. You can also run paid ads on this platform, which will also appear on Google Search Engine Result pages (SERP) and other Google network sites.
Overall, Google Shopping enhances the online shopping experience by providing a centralized platform for product discovery and price comparison.
How to List WooCommerce Products in Google Shopping
We will not get into all the details of the processes, but give a quick overview of it. You will primarily need three things:
- A Google Merchant Center account
- A WooCommerce Google shopping product feed
- A Google Ads account
Setting Up a Google Merchant Center Account
You can go to the official site of Google Merchant Center and sign up for free with your Gmail.
After that, you need to complete the following steps.
To add your WooCommerce products to Google Shopping, click the Add multiple products at once option from the 5th step.
For listing your WooCommerce products for free, checkmark the Free Listing option.
Next, you need to add your WooCommerce Google product feed. Google offers you multiple options to add your products through a product feed.
You can directly copy and paste your product details on a Google Sheet and connect it to the Merchant Center. Or you can create a product feed CSV/XML file and upload it to the GMC (Google Merchant Center) account.
Or you can connect your WooCommerce product feed Google shopping through a URL using the Scheduled Fetch option. We will talk more about this option later in the article.
Once you are done connecting/uploading your WooCommerce product data, Google will automatically fetch your data through the connected WooCommerce Google product feed. If the feed file doesn’t return any errors, Google will list and display your Woo products on the Google Shopping platform.
Running Paid Google Shopping Ads for WooCommerce Products
If you want to run paid campaigns on Google Shopping or want to run product ads across Google platforms, you will need a Google Ads account. Google allows you to run product ads on Google search result pages, Google Shopping results, and partner websites.
You must use the Gmail you used in your GMC account. Then link that GMC account with this account.
After that, create a new campaign with sales as a target.
Select Shopping as your campaign type.
Finally, choose your bidding strategy.
Google will automatically fetch your WooCommerce product data from your given WooCommerce Google product feed and generate and run ads for them.
Therefore, the most important part of the process is to create Google product feed for WooCommerce. Let’s find out what a product feed is and how to create a WooCommerce Google product feed.
What is a Product Feed?
A product feed is a structured file that contains information about the products available for sale on a retailer’s website. It typically includes details such as product titles, descriptions, prices, availability, images, and other attributes.
The product feed acts as a data source for various platforms, including Google Shopping, to display and promote the retailer’s products. It usually comes in a standardized format, such as XML or CSV, and needs to be regularly updated to reflect changes in product inventory and pricing.
The feed allows WooCommerce retailers like you to provide comprehensive and accurate product information to reach a wider audience. You can manually create and manage your WooCommerce Google product feed or use specialized software or platforms.
By submitting a product feed to Google Shopping, retailers increase their visibility and enable their products to appear in relevant search results. The feed should follow specific guidelines set by the platform to ensure that the data is properly structured and optimized for search.
Regularly optimizing and maintaining the product feed helps you showcase your products effectively and drive more traffic and sales.
How to Create a WooCommerce Google Product Feed?
Different channels have different requirements and guidelines for creating product feed files. A channel or platform will require you to include specific attributes in your feed file.
The attributes of a product feed file are the details about your products. They define the items in your stock by providing specific information about their qualities and properties.
Product attributes can include various details about the item, such as its name, quantity, description, cost, manufacturer, classification, availability, and so on.
In the simplest words, attributes are the column headers in your feed file, and you need to put your product details underneath them as values. When it comes to Google Shopping, there are multiple attributes you can include in your WooCommerce Google product feed.
Here are some of the most important/required ones:
- ID
- Title
- Description
- Link
- Image Link
- Price
- Category
- Condition
- Availability
- Brand
- MPN (Manufacturer Part Number)
While these are the most important characteristics, keep in mind that Google may have additional recommendations or requirements depending on the specifics of the products you’re promoting.
You can insert these attributes in a Microsoft Excel CSV file, or Google Sheets file as column headers and paste your Woo product information underneath them. Once you are done, you can save and upload the file to the Merchant Center.
However, this process is completely manual and undermines the primary purpose of a product feed which is automating and speeding up the product listing process.
Let’s find out why manually creating a product feed file is a bad idea.
Challenges Faced in Generating a Manual Google WooCommerce Product Feed
If you have many products, for example, 30 – 100 or even more, copying and pasting all data into the feed file will be harder. It will be even more daunting to manage this feed when you regularly add more products or make changes to the existing ones.
You will need to constantly update the file and re-upload it to your GMC account to keep your listings or ads data accurate.
In 2022, approximately 7% of products in Google Shopping feeds were rejected due to significant data errors. Shipping settings, product images, and GTINs emerged as the most prevalent issues causing these rejections.
WooCommerce doesn’t have product fields for some attributes like GTIN, MPN, Brand, etc. Therefore, you need to add them in WooCommerce as custom fields which requires some technical skills.
If incorrect GTIN values are submitted, Google disapproves the product listing, but skipping GTINs does not result in penalties. As of 2022, this problem impacts 5.53% of products with submitted GTINs, primarily due to two types of issues.
First, the repetition of identical GTINs for multiple products affects 4.13% of products. Second, the submission of invalid GTINs affects 1.4% of products.
So, even if you create custom fields in WooCommerce, entering those data manually in your feed file will still be challenging.
When it comes to setting up product feed, shipping poses the most significant challenges, accounting for 23.49% of all product rejections. The most frequent errors involve submitting excessively high values through the [shipping_weight] attribute and failing to specify certain attributes, such as the shipping country.
The best solution for you is to use a WooCommerce product feed plugin to automate the entire process of creating and connecting a product feed to Google. One of the best WooCommerce Google product feed plugins for this job is CTX Feed.
Using a Google Product Feed for WooCommerce Plugin to Generate the Feed
You can remove all the challenges and problems we mentioned above out of your way with just one plugin. As mentioned above, CTX Feed is a WooCommerce product feed plugin that lets you create and manage product feed files for 130+ channels.
You will no longer have to worry about learning the guidelines and attributes. CTX Feed already knows the requirements of a channel like Google Shopping. It has built-in templates for every channel.
When you select a template, this plugin automatically adds all the attributes in the file. After you click the generate button, the plugin will automatically collect all your WooCommerce product data and organize them under the attributes.
And you can then use the file to connect to the channel. So, basically, you are two clicks away from creating an accurate Google product feed in WooCommerce.
The plugin also lets you update your feed files automatically after set intervals. For any changes you make to your products, CTX Feed will automatically fetch those changes and update all the feed files.
Thus, you can display accurate information across all your ads and channels.
The plugin also lets you create complete custom product feed files. After creating the files, you can download or connect through the URL/FTP/HTTP/SFTP method.
Remember the Scheduled Fetch method?
When you connect through this method, you can copy & paste your WooCommerce Google product feed URL. Google will then fetch all your data from the feed file and display it on Google Shopping.
Also, when you make any product changes, Google will fetch those changes from the connected feed. So, there’s almost no chance of errors.
Additionally, CTX Feed packs a number of custom fields that different channels ask for. You can simply toggle to enable them from the settings.
Overall, this plugin is a lifesaver when it comes to generating and managing product feed files.
WooCommerce Google Product Feed Setup Using CTX Feed Plugin
Let’s start by installing the free version of the plugin. Login to your WordPress back panel and go to Plugin ->Add New.
Install and activate the WooCommerce Google shopping plugin.
The plugin creates a dedicated menu on the left panel. Click on Make Feed.
This is the new window.
Under the Template dropdown, you will find all the channels the plugin packs with attribute guidelines. Select Google Shopping as your template.
Give your file a name and select the file type.
As soon as you select the template, CTX Feed will automatically populate all the attributes in the middle window. All you have to do now is to click the generate button at the bottom.
CTX Feed will automatically collect and organize all your product information in a feed file. You can also filter your feed from the plugin’s filter settings.
From the filter settings, you can generate a WooCommerce Google product feed for specific categories or exclude specific ones. You can also apply different conditions.
Most importantly, you can remove out-of-stock products automatically from your feed data using these plugin’s filter settings. You can increase ROI on Google Search Ads by 181% simply by excluding temporarily out-of-stock products.
Uploading/Connecting WooCommerce Google Product Feed to GMC Account
After you click the Update And Generate Feed button, go to Manage Feeds. There you will find all the feed files you have created.
On this page, you can enable auto-update and set update intervals. For example, if you set 1 hour, all your product feed files will be updated every hour.
You can edit, regenerate, delete, view, copy URL, and download the feed file from different settings here. Now let’s get back to the Scheduled Fetch settings.
After you select the Scheduled Fetch option, Google will ask you to paste your feed URL. You can copy the URL from your WooCommerce CTX Feed manage feed page and paste it there.
You can also set update intervals or fetch frequency in Google Shopping. After you are done, Google Merchant Center will fetch all your WooCommerce product data from the feed URL and list it in Google.
Adding Custom Fields in WooCommerce Using CTX Feed
We already discussed that there are some fields WooCommerce doesn’t have built-in in its product pages. CTX Feed has you covered there too.
Go to CTX Feed -> Settings and click on Custom Fields. CTX Feed has listed all possible custom fields here.
Additionally, you can add more custom fields using the Custom Field 1-4 options. Toggle to enable a custom field, for example, MPN.
Now go to one of your product pages and jump to the Product Data section. Click on the Inventory tab to find the custom fields there.
You can insert value there, and the plugin will automatically include the values in the WooCommerce Google product feed file.
Advantages of Using a Google Shopping Product Feed for WooCommerce Store
Utilizing a Google Shopping product feed for your WooCommerce store offers several advantages:
Expanded Reach
Your products gain exposure to a broader audience as they appear in Google search results and the Google Shopping platform.
Targeted Advertising
Your products are displayed to users actively searching for related items, increasing the likelihood of attracting interested customers.
Increased Click-through Rates
Appearing in Google Shopping results can lead to higher click-through rates, driving more traffic to your WooCommerce store.
Enhanced Product Visibility
Detailed product listings with images, descriptions, and prices provide comprehensive information to potential buyers, increasing the chances of conversion.
Competitive Advantage
By showcasing your products alongside competitors, users can easily compare prices, features, and reviews, potentially favoring your offerings.
Mobile Optimization
Google Shopping is designed to be mobile-friendly, allowing you to reach and engage with the growing number of mobile shoppers.
Cost-effective Advertising
With Google Shopping campaigns, you can promote your products through paid ads, ensuring targeted exposure while optimizing your ad spend.
Accurate Inventory
Regularly updating your product feed ensures accurate information about product availability, preventing potential customer frustration.
Performance Tracking
Google provides analytics and performance metrics to monitor the effectiveness of your product listings, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Increased Sales Potential
The combination of broader visibility, targeted advertising, and compelling product information can lead to higher sales and revenue for your WooCommerce store.
In summary, leveraging a Google Shopping product feed for your WooCommerce store allows you to expand your reach, attract interested customers, increase click-through rates, showcase products effectively, gain a competitive edge, optimize for mobile shopping, utilize cost-effective advertising, maintain accurate inventory data, track performance, and ultimately drive more sales for your business.
Wrap Up
Google Shopping is a price comparison site where billions of users look for products they want to buy. Therefore, when you list and promote your products on this platform, you are reaching out to potential buyers directly.
As a result, your conversion rate can increase significantly. You can directly compete with your rivals and grow your reputation and business through this giant platform.
Therefore, promoting your WooCommerce products on this platform is essential for your online venture. And for that, providing accurate data in your WooCommerce Google product feed is crucial.
Hope this article on creating a Google product feed was of help to you. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions.