Send your products to Google

Google shows products in its free product listings (the Shopping tab, Search and Images) and in paid Shopping ads. Both read your products from a Google Merchant Center account. Your store gives Google everything it asks for, and tells you in plain words what's missing.

Open it in the Business Hub: Settings → Google.

Two ways to get products to Google

1. The feed address (works today, no connection needed). Every published store has a product feed on its own domain, for example https://yourstore.com/feeds/google-products.xml. In Merchant Center, add products from a file, paste that address and leave the schedule on daily. Google then reads it by itself. The page has a Copy button and the steps.

2. Send products straight to Google. Connect Google on the same page, pick the Merchant Center account, and turn on Send products straight to Google. A product you change is sent within minutes, everything is checked again each night, and Google's answer for each product comes back to the page. This needs one extra Google permission that Google reviews first. Until it's approved, the page says so and the feed address does the same job. If your connection is older than the permission, the page shows Reconnect Google.

Whose Google account

• Use (your agency's name)'s Google connection: the agency's connection is used and the agency picks or creates the Merchant Center account for this business.
• Connect this business's own Google: the business logs into its own Google account. Its Merchant Center stays its own.

Either way, a Merchant Center account is free at merchants.google.com.

What goes to Google

• Only products that are Active and published to the website. Drafts, archived products and products not on the site never go.
• One item per size or color, grouped so Google shows them as one product with choices.
• Name, description, link, pictures, price and sale price (with the sale's dates), in stock or out of stock, brand, barcode or "no barcode", condition, Google category, your own categories, color, size, material, weight and your shipping options.

The Google fields on a product

Open a product and find the Google box (also in the Business Hub app's product screen):

• Brand: empty uses the store's default, which starts as your business name.
• Condition: New, Refurbished or Used. Empty uses the store's default (New).
• Google category: type to search Google's own category list. Zeus suggests one from the product's name.
• This product has no barcode: tick it for custom, handmade and made-to-order items, so Google doesn't wait for a barcode. It's ticked by itself for Printful products. If the product has a barcode (GTIN / UPC / EAN), type it on each size or color instead.

For the whole store on the Google settings page sets the defaults. It also has three small fields Google asks for: Ships within, Delivery takes and Returns accepted for (days). They fill in by themselves from your store's written shipping and refund policies when those say (for example "ships within 1-2 business days" or "returns within 30 days"), so you don't type them twice; a number you type here wins, and clearing it goes back to your policy. When returns are accepted, Return shipping lets you say who pays to send a return back (Free returns or Customer pays); leave it on Not said and Google is told nothing about it. Each change saves on its own when you leave the field, in the order you made them, and a line beside the heading says Saving… then Saved; if a change can't be saved, the page says why. The same goes for every switch and setting on the Store, Shipping, Tax and Google settings pages (including Shipping's on/off switches and the Google sync switch). Leaving or reloading the page right after a change still saves it; only when a change can't be sent in time does the browser ask before you leave. Set brand and category for many products fills in many products at once: it only fills empty fields unless you tick Replace what's already there.

Missing for Google

The page lists each published product that's missing something Google needs (a picture, a description, a price, a brand, a category), with a link straight to the product. With direct sync on, What Google says also shows how many products are approved, need attention or are still being checked, and Google's reason for each one in plain words.

Problems Google reports also show up as Zeus items for the business, so they're on your list without opening this page.

Website ownership

Google wants proof that the website is yours before it shows products. With direct sync on, the Website ownership row checks it (Check again re-runs it): when the site is already verified with Search Console under the same Google login, it's claimed for you. If not, the page gives the short steps for Merchant Center.

Review stars on Google

Google can show your products' star ratings in its listings and ads. That's a separate Google program called Product Ratings:

1. Google asks for at least 50 product reviews across the store first. The Google settings page shows how many published reviews you have.
2. Sign up with Google's Product Ratings interest form (search "Product Ratings interest form" in Merchant Center help). Google turns it on for your account.
3. In Merchant Center: Reviews → Product reviews → Add product reviews → Add product reviews from a file, and paste the reviews address from the Feed address card (it ends in /feeds/google-reviews.xml). Google re-reads it on a schedule.

Only published reviews with words in them are included, never waiting or hidden ones, and never a reviewer's email.

Shopping ads

Free listings need nothing more. For paid ads:

1. On the Shopping ads card, Link Merchant Center to Google Ads → Link them (the client needs a Google Ads account linked first).
2. Create a campaign opens the campaign builder with the store's products already picked. Choose Shopping or Performance Max, a daily budget and where to show.
3. Read the plan, then create it. It's created paused; turning it on asks you to confirm the daily budget.

See The Google Ads tab.

Good to know

• The product pages also carry the same details for Google in the page itself (price, stock, brand, barcode, shipping and returns), so Search can show them without Merchant Center too.
• A product with several sizes or colors tells Google about each one separately, each with its own price and its own link. Opening that link shows the page with that size or color already picked.
• Google checks new products before showing them. That often takes a few days.
• From January 31, 2027 Google wants product pictures at least 500 × 500 pixels. Larger is better.
• Disconnecting Google stops the sending. Products already in Merchant Center stay there until you remove them in Merchant Center or they expire (about 30 days).
• Your AI assistant can read what's missing and fill in the Google fields over MCP (get_google_products, set_google_product_fields).