A product feed, also known as a product file, is an essential element of a PLA (Product Listing Ads) campaign in the Google advertising system. To run any Product Listing Ads in Google Search or the Shopping tab, you must first create a product list from your online store (in CSV or XML format) and upload it to your Google Merchant Center account.
From there, the advertising system will then draw information about our offerings. The product feed isn't created manually; it's usually easily created using plugins available for specific store systems, where you can assign specific attributes to products.
It's important to know that the quality of this feed has a huge impact on campaign effectiveness, and even the display of our ads to users. Therefore, optimizing it is one of the most important tasks when launching a PLA campaign . What should you pay attention to to create a high-quality product feed?
Why is product feed optimization important?
To begin, it's worth asking yourself a fundamental question: why is product feed care so high on the agenda when creating a PLA campaign ? It's such a crucial factor for several reasons.
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- First, in this type of campaign we have no influence on which keyword phrases our ad will be displayed for. It's an algorithm Google Ads It decides when to show our product, based on the information contained in the product feed. Therefore, optimizing this feed, for example by adding keywords of interest to the title or description of the item, gives us at least indirect influence over who our products will be shown to and in what context.
- Secondly, each product can be assigned a number of attributes, or product characteristics, such as size, color, material, gender (e.g., in the case of clothing), or pattern. In the Google Shopping tab, users can filter results based on these exact attributes. Therefore, the more product description fields you fill in, the greater the chance that it will also appear in filtered views.
- The third reasonto optimize the feed is that the algorithms Google Ads they constantly determine its quality and reward in views products from those files that they consider to be of high quality.
A high-quality feed, in addition to influencing ad placement, can also help reduce the cost-per-click (CPC). A well-structured feed makes our product more relevant to the customer's query, reducing budget burn.
This allows the campaign to achieve much better results because it generates more clicks within the set budget and reaches a more targeted audience.
What must a product feed contain?
In the case of a product feed, some information is mandatory for the feed to be accepted by the system, and some is optional, and additionally, some options are required only in campaigns for selected countries or only for specific product categories.
Therefore, when creating a product campaign , it's best to always check the feed requirements for your industry and the country you plan to advertise in. In simple terms, the information that must be included in a product feed includes:
- ID – a unique product identifier. Ideally, it should be the same as our warehouse identification.
- Title – the name of the product and key information about it. We'll discuss exactly what it should look like a bit later.
- Description – in this field you should describe the product in detail, using the keywords that are most relevant to it.
- Link – it should lead to the product page where you can make a purchase.
- Link to image – the address of the main product image that will be available for indexing by Google.
- Availability – Product status. This can be "in stock," "unavailable," "temporarily unavailable," or "pre-order" (for the latter two options, an attribute indicating the availability date is also required).
- Price – it must match the price on the store website and payment page.
- GTIN – Global Trade Item Number – this is only required for products that have such a number assigned by the manufacturer, but Google strongly recommends using it for all products.
If the product feed contains the elements mentioned above, it will be accepted by the advertising system, but this does not mean that the feed is of high quality.
These are just the basics, and to get a high score from the algorithm, it's worth completing some of the attributes from the optional list. Before we get into their descriptions, however, let's discuss how to optimize these basic product data.
How to optimize titles in your product feed?
The title is a crucial element not only because it's one of the first pieces of information a user sees, but also because it's one of the main parameters the algorithm considers when determining which keywords to display a product for.
Therefore, it's worth including not only the product name, but also information such as its brand, color, and size. While we'll repeat this information in other attributes, including it in the title increases the chance that products will be displayed for the most relevant search queries.
The order in which you provide information is also crucial, and may vary slightly across product categories. Google recommends title optimization best practices for the most popular industries as follows:
- Clothing: Brand Name + Gender + Product Type + Product Features (Color, Size, Material, etc.),
- Food: Brand name + Product type + Product features (flavor, number of pieces in the package, weight),
- House and garden: Brand Name + Product Type + Product Features + Model,
- Electronics: Brand Name + Product Features + Product Type + Model,
- Seasonal products: Occasion + Product Type + Product Features.
Of course, these aren't universal models that will work in all cases. For example, a brand name in the title will only attract audiences if it's recognizable and enjoys a good reputation.
It is best to experiment with names and test different options to choose the combination that works best for us.
It is also worth remembering that product titles may be displayed differently on different devices and therefore the system may cut them off in some cases.
You have 150 characters to use in the title field, and it's a good idea to use them, but make sure the most important information is at the beginning of this section.
In the Google Shopping tab, titles are truncated after 70 characters, so it's best to fit the most important data into this pool.
How to optimize descriptions in product feed?
For a product description in the feed, we have 5 characters available. Of course, we don't have to use all of them, but this field provides us with a place to include multiple keywords. While this doesn't guarantee that the product will show up for those keywords, it significantly increases the chances of it happening.
However, the description should not only be rich in keywords but also valuable to the user. Therefore, it's important to ensure that it comprehensively describes the product and is of high quality. Each product description should be unique, which increases the chance that the system will correctly select the product from the list that best matches a given search query.
It is best to use a minimum of 500 characters for this field, although of course the more useful information for the user, the better.
However, the question remains: where to get information about which keywords will be most valuable for a given product? This is where the free Google Trends tool comes in. You can enter terms associated with your product and see which of them are most frequently searched for by search engine users.
This allows us to include keywords in the description that are most likely to generate the most ad impressions and clicks. For example, if Google Trends shows that "women's black high heels" is searched for more often than "women's black pumps," it's worth using the former in both the description and the title.
How to optimize product images in a product feed?
A mandatory element of the feed is a link to a product image, which the system can then use in ads . However, to achieve the best possible file quality, it's worth adding several photos, not just one, to show the product in more detail.
This can be done using the "Link to Additional Image" attribute. This attribute can be repeated 10 times per product, meaning you can add a maximum of 10 additional images. However, the standard practice is to include 3-5 images per product, showing the product from different angles.
All photos you post should be of good quality, but they can't exceed 16MB. Although the official feed specifications on Google's website state that photos should be at least 250x250 pixels for clothing and 100x100 pixels for other products, it's better to choose photos with higher resolution.
The optimal size for product images is 800x800 pixels. It's worth sticking to these guidelines, as high-quality images improve click-through rates and, ultimately, can increase conversions.
Optional attributes for product feed optimization
As we've already mentioned, in addition to the basic data, it's also worth completing at least some of the attributes that the system considers optional. While the file will be accepted without them and ads will still be displayed, their effectiveness won't be as good as when additional information is added. Here are a few attributes that are definitely worth completing.
Brand
The Brand attribute is most helpful when selling products from well-known and frequently searched brands, but it's worth using it in any case. However, this attribute is often filled out incorrectly, which can reduce the effectiveness of your ads, so it's worth paying close attention to it.
A common mistake is to enter the name of your online store here, when the correct value is the name of the product's manufacturer. For example, if you sell Nike sneakers in your store called XYZ, you should enter "Nike" in the brand attribute, not "XYZ."
Enter the name of your online store here only if your company produces the item in question. If the product doesn't have a brand or the brand is unknown, you should refrain from completing this attribute. It's incorrect to enter values like "not applicable" or "none" here.
Product group identifier
This attribute is used to group products that are available in different versions, e.g. sizes or colors.
This way, they won't be displayed to users as separate products, but rather as variants of the same item, making it easier to browse the offer and make purchasing decisions. For all products that are to be grouped together, we should add the same product group ID.
Size
This attribute is mandatory for clothing and footwear, but recommended for all products with different size variants. It's best to use the most popular size chart in the country targeted for the campaign to determine this parameter.
If a product comes in multiple sizes, it's important to add a product group identifier to all its versions. If the clothing we sell comes in one size, we can enter the value "one size fits all" in the attribute.
Material
Material is a key attribute for many products, including clothing, accessories, footwear, and furniture. If a product comes in multiple material variants, each is added to the file separately and combined into a single offer using the same product group ID.
However, sometimes an item is made of multiple materials, such as a cotton and polyester blend. In such cases, all materials are added as a single version in the Material attribute, separated by a "/" without spaces, e.g., "cotton/polyester."
Mobile link
If we have different URLs for traffic from computers and mobile devices, we can also complete the Mobile Link attribute.
This ensures that users using smartphones and tablets, after clicking on the ad, will be taken to our store pages optimized for these devices. This, in turn, will provide them with a better shopping experience associated with our brand. If the page URL is the same for both desktop and mobile versions, we don't need to complete this attribute.
What else can you do to optimize your product feed?
The high quality of a product feed is also enhanced by including information about product types and populating the Google category field. By properly classifying products, the system can better position the offer and tailor it to the needs of its audience.
It's also important to ensure that your product feed contains only current information about your product range. To achieve this, it's best to set up automatic updates for your product feed in Google Merchant Center once a day.
You can also set more frequent updates (up to four times a day), but refreshing the product feed so frequently is only necessary in isolated cases. Additionally, if you make changes to the website, such as adding new products to the offer or running a promotion, you can also force the feed to update manually, without waiting for the data to be automatically downloaded.
When setting automatic updates, it is worth choosing night hours so that refreshing the file does not interrupt the display of ads to recipients.
Frequently asked questions about product feed
A product feed (product file) is a list of products from an online store, usually saved in CSV or XML format. It's a necessary element for launching PLA (Product Listing Ads) campaigns in Google.
The file is uploaded to a Google Merchant Center account, from where the advertising system obtains information about the store's offerings. The feed is typically not created manually – it is generated using plugins available in e-commerce systems that automatically assign appropriate attributes to products.
In Shopping campaigns, advertisers don't directly select keywords. The Google Ads algorithm decides when to display an ad based on data from the feed. Optimizing the feed (e.g., adding keywords to the title or description) is the only way to indirectly influence which search queries products will be displayed for.
Attributes like size, color, material, gender, and pattern are incredibly important. Users in the Google Shopping tab use these same characteristics to filter search results. The more accurately and in greater quantity you fill out the product description fields, the greater the chance of your ad being displayed to a potential customer.
Yes. The quality of your product feed has a huge impact on the overall effectiveness of your PLA campaign. A well-optimized feed determines not only whether you'll show up at all, but also how precisely you'll target their purchasing intent.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The product feed is a product data file essential for PLA campaigns, the optimization and correct configuration of which in Google Merchant Center have a key impact on the effectiveness of advertising.
- Feed optimization allows algorithms to better match ads to search queries, increases visibility in search filters, and improves campaign cost-effectiveness through higher quality and lower CPC rates.
- A valid product feed must contain key data such as a unique ID, optimized title and description, links to the page and image, availability status, and price. Its quality can be improved by completing optional attributes (e.g., brand, size, or material) and adding additional images.
- It is worth supplementing feed optimization with precise product categorization in accordance with Google standards and setting automatic, nightly data updates to ensure the system always has up-to-date information on product range and prices.
