The Merchant Center product feed: the foundation of every Google Shopping campaign
The product feed is the file in Google Merchant Center that describes each product to Google: title, description, GTIN, price and availability. Without a correct feed, a Google Shopping campaign has nothing to bid on. Here are the mandatory fields and the most common errors that pull your products out of the auction.
An online store with 4,000 products came to us with a Google Shopping campaign that spent money but sold almost nothing. The cause was not the budget or the bidding. Out of 4,000 products, only 900 were approved in Merchant Center. The other 3,100 were silently disapproved and never entered the auction. The campaign looked like it was running, but it was bidding on a quarter of the catalogue. The problem was in the feed, not in the account.
This is the uncomfortable truth about Google Shopping: the campaign is just the tip. The foundation is the product feed. If the feed is weak, no bidding strategy will save you.
What a product feed actually is
The product feed is a structured file, uploaded to Google Merchant Center, that describes every item in your store in a language Google understands. Each row is a product. Each column is an attribute: title, description, price, stock, image, code. Google reads this file and decides, product by product, which searches you can appear on and whether you are eligible to appear at all.
An important distinction: Merchant Center is the platform, the feed is the content. You can have the account perfectly configured, but if the feed has wrong or missing fields, your products are invisible. Google does not guess what you sell, it reads exactly what you give it in the feed.
Google does not match searches against keywords you choose, it matches them against the text in the feed. Your feed is your targeting.
Why the feed is the foundation, not a technical detail
In classic Search you write keywords and ads. In Google Shopping and Performance Max there are no keywords. Google itself chooses which searches to show you on, and the source of that decision is the feed. A poorly written product title means you appear on the wrong searches or not at all. A feed with half the products disapproved means the budget concentrates on a few products instead of covering the catalogue.
In other words, feed quality decides, before any bidding, who gets into the game. That is why a clean feed often brings more performance than any budget adjustment.
The mandatory fields of a product feed
Google requires a minimum set of attributes for each product. If they are missing, the product is disapproved. Here are the ones that matter most.
id
The unique product identifier. It must not repeat and must not change once the product is published. If you change the id, Google treats the product as new and loses its performance history.
title
The single most important field in the whole feed. Google gives the most weight to the first 30 characters. The formula that works in Romania: brand, product type, key attribute (size, colour, model), in that order. For example Nike Air Max 90 men black 43, not The most comfortable sneakers of the season. A fancy name pulls your product out of searches.
description
The text that details the product. Google reads it to understand context and match the product to longer searches. Put the important information first, use real attributes (material, dimensions, compatibility), and avoid promotional text like free shipping or discount, which can trigger disapproval.
link and image_link
The link to the product page and to the main image. The image must show the product clearly, on a clean background, with no text, logo or watermark. Images with promotional text are one of the most common causes of disapproval.
price
The feed price must be identical to the one on the product page, expressed correctly in RON with VAT included. Any difference between feed and site leads to disapproval for price mismatch. If you run a discount, use the separate sale price field, do not change the base price.
availability
Tells Google whether the product is in stock, out of stock or on preorder. It must reflect reality on the site in real time. A product marked in stock in the feed but out of stock on the site is a clear cause of disapproval and of budget wasted on products you cannot sell.
GTIN and brand
The GTIN is the product's unique global code, the EAN on the packaging. For branded products, Google expects it. Without it, visibility of branded products drops significantly, because Google cannot match them with identical products in other stores. For products without a barcode (handmade, own-brand) you correctly declare no GTIN and use brand plus MPN.
Simple rule: brand plus GTIN for branded products, brand plus MPN for own-brand products. Never leave both empty.
The most common errors that get your products disapproved
Disapprovals are the number one problem for Romanian stores in Merchant Center. Here are the errors we see most often and how to fix them.
Price mismatch between feed and site
Google automatically checks the feed price against the price shown on the page. If they differ, even by a few lei due to VAT or an un-updated discount, the product is disapproved. Fix: automatic feed sync and attention to the VAT-inclusive price.
Images with text, logo or watermark
Google disapproves images that contain promotional text, the store logo or a border. The product needs a clean image with a simple background. Fix: standard product images with no added elements.
Missing or incorrect GTIN
For branded products, a missing or wrong GTIN leads to a warning and reduced visibility, sometimes disapproval. Fix: enter the correct barcode for all branded products.
Missing site policies
Google requires the site to have a return policy, terms and conditions, and visible contact details. Their absence leads to account suspension, not just the disapproval of one product. Fix: clear policy pages, linked in the footer.
Wrong availability
Products marked in stock in the feed but sold out on the site are disapproved at review. Fix: a feed that updates frequently, ideally automatically, so stock reflects reality.
Site without HTTPS or incomplete checkout
A site without a security certificate or with a checkout that cannot be completed leads to a general disapproval. Fix: active HTTPS and a working order flow all the way through.
A disapproved product does not appear in Shopping at all. When a large part of the catalogue is disapproved, the campaign spends on the few remaining products and looks like it is underperforming, when in reality it is bidding on a trimmed-down catalogue.
The feed is an asset, not a setting
Many stores treat the feed as something you configure once. In reality, stock changes daily, prices adjust, new products appear, and Google's policies change periodically. A healthy feed is monitored monthly: you check the number of disapproved products, fix weak titles, add missing attributes. This is where Google Shopping performance is won or lost.
At DAFE Digital, setting up and continuously optimising the Merchant Center feed is exactly the part we handle for Romanian online stores that do not want to go through the trial-and-error phase. Clean feed, approved products, a campaign that bids on the whole catalogue. The details of how we build campaigns on top of that feed are on our Google Shopping page.
What to do today
Go into Merchant Center and look at a single number: how many products are disapproved versus approved. If disapproved exceeds 10 percent of the catalogue, your Google Shopping campaign is bidding with its hands tied. Open the list of disapproved products, sort by the disapproval reason, and you will immediately see whether the problem is price, images or GTIN. Fixing these errors usually brings more sales than any budget increase.
Frequently asked questions
What is a product feed in Google Merchant Center?
The product feed is a structured file, uploaded to Google Merchant Center, that describes each product in your store to Google. Each row is a product, and the columns are the attributes: title, description, price, availability, image, GTIN. Google reads this file to decide which searches you can appear on in Google Shopping and whether the product is eligible to appear at all. Without a correct feed, a Shopping campaign has nothing to bid on.
What fields are mandatory in a product feed?
The core fields Google requires are: id (unique identifier), title, description, link (product page), image_link (main image), price (VAT included), availability, and for branded products GTIN plus brand. If any of these is missing or wrong, the product can be disapproved. Title and price are the most important, because Google uses them directly to match searches and to check consistency with the site.
Why are my products disapproved in Merchant Center?
The most common causes are: the feed price differs from the product page price, images have text, a logo or a watermark, branded products are missing a GTIN, the feed availability does not match the site stock, or the site lacks a return policy, terms and conditions or an HTTPS certificate. A disapproved product does not appear in Google Shopping at all, so every disapproval means budget bidding on an incomplete catalogue.
How do I write a product title correctly in the feed?
The product title is the most important field in the feed, and Google gives the most weight to the first 30 characters. The formula that works is brand, product type, key attribute (size, colour, model), in that order, for example Nike Air Max 90 men black 43. Avoid fancy names and promotional text, because the product needs to be found by what the customer searches for, not by what you named it internally.
Do I need a GTIN for every product?
For branded products, yes. The GTIN is the product's unique global code, the EAN on the packaging, and Google expects it so it can match your product with identical products in other stores. Without it, visibility of branded products drops significantly. For products without a barcode, such as handmade or own-brand items, you correctly declare no GTIN and use brand plus MPN instead. What you must never do is leave both empty.
At DAFE Digital we manage campaigns for you. Same budget, better profitability, no optimisations to handle yourself.
What works on an e-commerce account with €5,000/month doesn't translate directly to an account with €500. Your context, history and objectives matter. We manage Google Ads, Meta Ads and LinkedIn Ads with a focus on real profitability, not activity.
Adela Mincea
Fondatoare și strateg în marketing de performanță · DAFE Digital · Formator ANC
Adela is a founder and performance marketing strategist with 10+ years of paid media across Europe, the US and Asia. She founded DAFE Digital in 2023 after agency roles in London and Hong Kong, in-house work inside client organisations, and independent consulting across 27+ industries.
