Syncing your products

The Google & YouTube app on Shopify syncs products that are available to your online store with Merchant Center. For eligible stores, products synced to Merchant Center using the Google & YouTube app on Shopify can appear in relevant Google Shopping tab search listings for free. While most users opt for automatic sync, you now have the option to choose manual sync, learn about automatic sync and manual sync.

To view the status of your products or change your account settings go to the Google & YouTube app on Shopify.

On this page

• How it works
• How to add product data using the Google & YouTube app on Shopify
• Product requirements
• How to sync discounts or promotions
• Product status
• How to choose between automatic sync (recommended) or manual sync

How it works

1. Make products available to the Google & YouTube app on Shopify: When you set up the Google & YouTube app on Shopify for the first time, all of the products that are available on your Shopify store are automatically synced with Merchant Center. If you prefer to choose which products to sync, then you can change the publishing of a single product manually or do a bulk action to change the publishing for several products.

2. Add required product data: Google uses product data to help categorize your synced products on Google. However, in certain instances, you may need to add additional information before products can successfully sync to your Merchant Center account.

A product sync will be initiated once a merchant has successfully connected their Merchant Center account and updates required product information. Products will continue to sync automatically when any information changes.

How to add product data using the Google & YouTube app on Shopify

1. In your Shopify admin page, navigate to Sales Channels and click Google & YouTube.
2. On the Overview page, go to the Product Status section.
3. Click Manage Products to view your synced products in a bulk editor.
4. Update desired fields and click Save.
5. Optional: If your product doesn't have a GTIN or MPN because it's a custom product, then check This is a custom product.
6. Optional: In the Product categorization section, add a Google Product Category.
7. Optional: Add custom labels for Age, Gender, or Condition.
8. Click Save.

Product requirements

Google requires specific information about your products before you can publish them on Google. The Google & YouTube app on Shopify imports your existing product data from Shopify, but you might need to add some additional information before you can sync products with Merchant Center.

Most products only need the following information added:

• Unique product identifiers: Google requires you to have a unique product identifier for each of your products. These identifiers let Google match your product with similar products on Google Shopping. If these identifiers aren't correct, then Google doesn't publish your products and your account could be suspended.
  • If a product has a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), then you need to add it before you can publish the product. You can add a GTIN in the details of a product variant.
  • For products without a GTIN, you need to add an MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) and brand to the product data in the Google & YouTube app on Shopify.

Learn more about Unique product identifiers.

Google also has specific requirements for the following product categories:

How to optimize product titles and descriptions for Google Shopping

The keywords that you use in your product titles and descriptions can help us show your products to the right customers on Google Shopping.

When you're syncing products to Google Shopping, you can either sync your product titles and descriptions, or use the title tag and meta description from the search engine listing. You might want to use the search engine listing title tag and meta description so that you can include more keywords for search engine optimization on Google Shopping without changing the product information in your online store.

Learn more about optimizing product title [title] and description [description].

To use title tags and meta descriptions for your products on Google Shopping, first you need to select the preference from the Google & YouTube app on Shopify.

1. In your Google & YouTube app, click Settings.
2. In the “Product title preference” section, select SEO product title to use the search engine optimized product tag for your products on Google Shopping.
3. In the “Product description preference” section, select SEO product description to use the search engine optimized meta description for your products on Google.

How to sync discounts or promotions

Discounts are known as promotions in Google Merchant Center. Some promotions (percentage, fixed amount, automatic discount) created in your Shopify admin automatically sync to Google Ads and to show organically across Google.

You can manage which discounts are available to the Google & YouTube app on Shopify by following the steps below:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Discounts on the left navigation menu.
2. Click the name of the discount that you want to edit.
3. In the Sales channels section, select and deselect the sales channels that you want your discount to be available on.
4. Click Save.

You can also manage your promotions in Merchant Center. Learn more on How to sync sale price and promotions from Shopify to Google and Edit a promotion or change promotion status. Get general information about Promotions.

Product status

The Google & YouTube app on Shopify displays the status of your products on the Overview page, in the Products section. There are 4 possible product statuses:

• Not approved: Products with the Not approved status are not synced with the Google Merchant Center because of one or more errors, or missing product data.
• Limited: Products with the Limited status means only some of the products are synced with the Google Merchant Center because of one or more errors, or missing product data.
• Under review: Products with the Under review status have changes in Shopify that haven’t been synced to the Google Merchant Center yet.
• Approved: Products with the Approved status are successfully synced to Merchant Center.

To solve product errors, click the product name and make changes in the product details page to suit Merchant Center product requirements. When you make a change to a product here, it's automatically synced with Merchant Center.

When you change product information on the Product page of your Shopify admin, the changes are synced to Google. Since Google errors and warnings are different from Shopify’s, check the Google & YouTube app on Shopify periodically to make sure that changes you made in your Shopify admin didn’t cause a disapproval on Google.

How to choose between automatic sync (recommended) or manual sync

You have the option to choose how you want your information to be synced with Google Merchant Center. We recommend you automatically sync your products, however, choose the option that is best for you.

Automatic sync: When you choose to automatically sync your products using the Google & YouTube app, your Shopify products will appear on Google, and you’ll be able to view your product status on Shopify.

Manual sync: When you manually sync your products you will need to send your product data to Merchant Center yourself in order for them to show on Google. We will not automatically sync your Shopify products to Merchant Center. To select this option, you will need to already have products in Merchant Center.