Google Shopping: affiliate channel guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the US-based affiliate channel Google Shopping. Here you can find information on how to request a Google Shopping account, how to configure this affiliate channel on ChannelEngine, what the specific requirements are, and more.

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Channel features

Settings and configuration

Channel-specific requirements and exceptions

• Setup
• Product selection
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing

FAQs

Commercial information

How to request an account

To start selling on Google Shopping, you need to create a Google Merchant Center account. It is also recommended to create an account on Google Ads and on Google Analytics, which can provide you with useful statistics and valuable insights.

Below you can find some of the requirements to link your webstore to your Merchant Center account:

• The URL must begin with http:// or https:// (the latter is preferred).
• Do not specify IP addresses. E.g.: http://10.127.127.127.
• Do not specify ports. E.g.: http://www.example.com:8080.
• Do not enter snippets. E.g.: http://www.example.com#top.
• The URL must comply with the Merchant Center guidelines.
• The feed must be in the extensible markup language (XML) format.

Before you create a payment profile and submit your product information, make sure that your company meets the following Google guidelines:

• Follow the website requirements listed above.
• Only promote products that can be purchased immediately (i.e.: no backorders).
• Use an officially supported language.
• Communicate your return policy to customers.
• Collect user data in a responsible and secure manner.
• Follow Google Shopping's advertising policies.
• Verify and claim your website URL.
• Ensure that your data meets the product specifications.
• Log in to your Merchant Center account regularly.

Associated costs

Creating a Google Merchant Center account is free. However, you pay for every click on ads linked to the products listed – and this cost varies. For more information on the cost per click (CPC), check out Google Merchant Center's help center.

Channel features

Google Shopping is an affiliate channel. Google is experimenting with Google Shopping Actions, which add a shopping cart to Google Shopping, but it does not support marketplace actions such as processing orders and shipments directly.

This channel generates a feed that you can upload to your Google Merchant Center, but all order handling is done directly on your webstore.

Settings and configuration

Setting up each channel on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every channel includes the steps listed below.

1. Go through the Setup.
2. Create a Product selection.
3. Complete the Categorization.
4. Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
5. Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
6. Fill in the Stock settings.
7. Finish the Activation.
8. Check the Listed products overview.

Channel-specific requirements and exceptions

Setup

On ChannelEngine

Settings

• Do not expose actual stock - this setting can be ignored. While it is valid for most other affiliate channels, it has no effect here because Google Shopping uses an in stock/out of stock designation – and it does not display exact stock numbers.

Plugin-specific settings

• Export feed only - if enabled, your feed is still exported, but orders are not processed. This eliminates the need to authorize your Google Merchant Center account.
  • If you only export the feed, authorization is not required. However, to use the Google Shopping API or additional features, ChannelEngine must be authorized to access the Google Merchant Center account.
• Export all public custom fields - if enabled, all custom attributes marked as public are exported to Google Shopping. To export only certain public custom attributes, disable this setting and manually select the desired attributes in the dropdown below.

Conversion tracking

• Cost per click (CPC), excl. VAT/sales tax - to use ChannelEngine's own conversion tracking, enter your Cost per click here. This allows ChannelEngine to calculate the costs and return on investment (ROI) automatically.

Product selection

To generate a product feed, you need to create a selection of all the products to be listed on Google Shopping. Note that, once you save the selection, it can take up to one hour before the feed is first generated. After this, it is generated hourly.

You can find the product feed location on ChannelEngine on the Product selection page. This URL does not change, unless you remove the affiliate channel and re-add it later – and is what you need to add to your Google Merchant Center account.

Although not recommended, it is possible to use a feed from Google Sheets with the feed template provided. You can also submit your own product database using feed rules. To prevent Google Shopping from rejecting your initial product feed, you can find the requirements for product information on the product feed.

To add the product feed to your Merchant Center, go to Accounts, Your account name, Products,  Feeds. Click the plus sign to add a product feed. On the first page, select your target country, the language used in the product feed, and the destination. Then click Continue.

Name your product feed and select Scheduled fetch, so Google downloads the feed regularly. Click Continue, enter a name, select a daily frequency (you can choose whatever time you want), and paste the File URL from the ChannelEngine dashboard. The username and password are not required to download ChannelEngine's product feed.

Click Continue, and finish submitting the new product feed.

Custom product URL parameters

To monitor the performance of the products included in your selection on Google Analytics, enable the Custom product URL parameters setting. You are then provided with parameters that can be appended to your product URLs, either manually or via a replacement tag.

Categorization

Google Shopping has its own category tree, and it is mandatory to use its taxonomy.

The Google Shopping category tree is configured in the main language of the country you are creating a Google Shopping feed for, so English-speaking countries have categories in English, Spanish-speaking countries have categories in Spanish, etc.

Mappings

Content

Google Shopping exports all data in a single file, so both content and offer attributes (including Price, Sale price, and Shipping price) are configured in Content mappings. It is recommended to map as much content as possible to improve your conversion rate.

For detailed requirements for each attribute listed in Content mappings, check Google's Product data specification.

Required

• Age group - the age demographic a product is intended for, e.g.: newborn.
• Availability - the product's availability, e.g.: preorder.
• Brand - the product's brand name as recognized by buyers.
• Category - your own product category, e.g.: Home > Furniture > Chairs.
• Color - the product's primary color(s), e.g.: black. Separate multiple colors with a slash "/".
• Condition - the product's condition, e.g.: new or refurbished. For detailed requirements, see Condition.
• Currency - the ISO 4217 currency code submitted together with the price (e.g.: USD in "49.99 USD"). If no value is selected, the default currency of that country is used.
• Description - the product's details and key features. The maximum number of characters is 5,000. For detailed requirements, see Description and structured description.
• Gender - the gender a product is intended for, e.g.: male or female.
• Google category - Google's predefined product category, given as a full path or numeric ID.
• Group ID - a shared ID linking the variants of one parent product.
• GTIN - the product's Global Trade Item Number, e.g.: UPC or EAN.
• ID - your unique identifier for the item, usually the SKU. The maximum number of characters is 50.
• Image link - the URL of the product's main image. The main image is the first to be displayed. For detailed requirements, see Image link.
• Manufacturer part number - the manufacturer's part number for the product.
• Material - the product's main material, e.g.: leather. Separate multiple with "/".
• Pattern - the product's pattern or print, e.g.: striped.
• Price - (appears when pricing v1 is activated) the product's price that comes together with ISO 4217 currency code, e.g.: 49.99.
• Product link - the URL of the product's landing page.
• Shipping price - a fixed shipping cost; a sub-attribute of shipping.
• Ships from country - the country where the product is shipped from.
• Size - the product's size, e.g.: XL or 32x30. The maximum number of characters is 100.
• Title - the product's name shown in listings. The maximum number of characters is 150. For detailed requirements, see Title and structured title.

Optional

• Additional image link - the URLs of extra product images; up to 10. Submit multiple image URLs by separating them with a comma (e.g.:  http://www.example.com/img2.jpg,http://www.example.com/img3.jpg). If you prefer to use image attributes on ChannelEngine instead, use replacement tags in a similar way: {CE:ExtraImageUrl2},{CE:ExtraImageUrl3}.
• Adult content - whether the product contains nudity or sexually suggestive content, e.g.: yes or no.
• Availability date - the date a preorder or backorder product becomes available, in the ISO 8601 format, e.g.: 2016-02-24T11:07+0100.
• Bundle - whether the product is a bundle built around one main product, e.g.: yes or no.
• Certification authority - the certifying body, e.g.: EC (European Commission).
• Certification code - the code of certification, e.g.: the EPREL registration number. The code is required for European energy labels.
• Certification name - the name of certification, e.g.: EPREL.
• Certification value - the value awarded under the certification. Ignored for certifications that use a code (e.g.: EPREL), but used where no code applies, e.g.: the CO2 emission class required for vehicle listings in some countries.
• Cost of goods sold - the costs tied to selling a product, e.g.: material, labor, or freight. Submitting it unlocks margin metrics, such as gross margin and revenue from your ads and free listings.
• Custom label 0-4 - your own tag for grouping products in campaigns, e.g.: Best Seller or Clearance. For more information on custom labels, see the article Use custom labels for a Shopping campaign.
• Energy efficiency class - the product's energy class, e.g.: A or B. Now only available for Switzerland, Norway, and the UK, since the EU uses the certification attribute.
• Energy efficiency class (max.) - the highest energy class in the product's category. Now only available for Switzerland, Norway, and the UK, since the EU uses the certification attribute.
• Energy efficiency class (min.) - the lowest energy class in the product's category. Now only available for Switzerland, Norway, and the UK, since the EU uses the certification attribute.
• Expiration date - the date the listing should stop showing. Use a date less than 30 days in the future, e.g.: 2016-02-24T11:07+0100.
• Maximum handling time - a maximum number of days required to ship the order after it is placed. For products that are ready to be shipped the same day, submit 0.
• Minimum handling time - a minimum number of days required to ship the order after it is placed.
• Mobile link - the product's mobile-optimized landing page URL. The maximum number of characters is 2,000.
• Multipack - the number of identical items you group and sell as one unit. The default option is 0. For detailed requirements, see Multipack.
• Product has a GTIN (EAN, ISBN, UPC, etc.) - indicates whether the unique product identifiers (UPIs) GTIN, MPN, and brand are available for your product. The default option is yes.
• Product height - the product's height, e.g.: 20 cm. Supported units are cm and in. Use the same unit of measurement for each product dimension attribute (including product length, width, and height).
• Product highlight - a short bulleted list of the most relevant highlights of your product. The maximum number of characters is 150 in each. For detailed requirements, see Product highlight.
• Product length - the product's length, e.g.: 40 cm. Supported units are cm and in.
• Product weight - the product's weight, e.g.: 3.5 lb. Supported units are lb, oz, g, and kg.
• Product width - the product's width, e.g.: 10 cm. Supported units are cm and in.
• Return policy label - the label linking the product to a correct return policy as defined in Merchant Center account settings. Use this attribute for products with non-standard return policies. The maximum number of characters is 100. For detailed requirements, see Return policy label.
• Sale price - the temporary discounted price; submit alongside the regular price. For detailed requirements, see Sale price.
• Sale price effective date - the start and end date range for the sale price, in the ISO 8601 format, separated by "/", e.g.: 2016-02-24T11:07+0100 / 2016-02-29T23:07+0100.
• Shipping country - the country where the product is delivered to; in the ISO 3166 format.
• Shipping height - the package height for transit, e.g.: 50 cm. Supported units are cm and in. Submit this value if you set up account shipping settings for carrier-calculated rates. If you submit this attribute, submit all shipping dimension attributes: Shipping length, Shipping weight, Shipping width. For detailed requirements, see Shipping length, shipping width, shipping height.
• Shipping label - the label that you assign to a product to define correct shipping times and transit costs, e.g.: perishable. The maximum number of characters is 100.
• Shipping length - the package length for transit, e.g.: 100 cm. Supported units are cm and in. For detailed requirements, see Shipping length, shipping width, shipping height.
• Shipping weight - the packaged weight, e.g.: 3.5 kg. Supported units are lb, oz, g, and kg.
• Shipping width - the package width for transit, e.g.: 90 cm. Supported units are cm and in. For detailed requirements, see Shipping length, shipping width, shipping height.
• Size system - the country (region) where your size system is used, e.g.: US or EU.
• Size type - the apparel cut, e.g.: petite. The default option is regular.
• Unit pricing base measure - the base measure for unit pricing, e.g.: 100 g. For detailed requirements, see Unit pricing base measure.
• Unit pricing measure - the measure and dimension of your product as it is sold, e.g.: 1.5 kg. Use the measure or dimension of the product without packaging. For detailed requirements, see Unit pricing measure.

AI-powered shopping

To optimize your product content for AI-powered shopping, map the following attributes: Lifestyle image link, Product detail, Variant option, Item group title, Related products, Question & answer, Document link, Popularity rank. For the requirements for each attribute, check Google's Product data specification.

Pricing

If your target countries have a currency different than your own, you can use price rules on ChannelEngine to create a currency conversion. For more information on Google Shopping's currency support, check out Supported languages and currencies.

Working with discounts

Scheduled discounts on Google Shopping should be set via Mappings, using Sale price and Sale price effective date. The Pricing step is not recommended for configuring campaign-based price reductions on Google Shopping.

FAQs

Where can I find the feed required by Google Shopping?
The URL of the product feed can be found on the channel's Product selection page. Note that this URL remains the same, but it is not populated with products until a filter is created.