How to Optimize Your Google Merchant Center for Peak Performance

Running Google Shopping campaigns? Optimizing your Google Merchant Center can significantly enhance your results. We’ve compiled actionable tips to help you increase visibility and drive more sales.

1. Monitor Store Quality

Tip: Regularly review the Shopping Experience Scorecard in Merchant Center to understand how your store compares to others in your industry.
How: Go to the Performance section in your Merchant Center account to view your score and actionable tips for improvement.

Shipping & Return Experience

• Action: Ensure that  shipping & return information is filled in accurately.

• Tip: You can view insights on how shipping and return policies compare to other stores in your industry directly in the Shopping Experience Scorecard.

Browsing Experience

• High-Resolution Images: Use high-quality images to enhance engagement and build trust with potential buyers.

• Images per Product: Include multiple images per product to give customers a comprehensive view.

Website Speed

• Website Speed: Aim for a load time of under 2.6 seconds to improve the desktop user experience.

• Tip: Use Google’s Page Speed Insights tool to identify specific areas for improvement.

2. Fix Merchant Center Errors Promptly

Tip: Regularly check the Diagnostics tab for disapprovals, warnings, and errors. A clean diagnostics report ensures your products remain eligible for Shopping Ads.
Action: Resolve common issues like missing, mismatched pricing, or invalid URLs as soon as they appear.

3. Keep Your Product Data Fresh

Tip: Ensure that your product data is daily updated to reflect accurate information, thereby improving the user experience.
How: Set up automatic feed uploads in Merchant Center to keep your product information current without manual effort.

4. Use Automatic Item Updates

Tip: Minimize the risk of product disapprovals due to outdated information with automatic item updates to sync price and availability directly from your website to Merchant Center.
How: For detailed instructions on activating this feature, visit Google’s support page on Automatic Item Updates.

Note: While automatic item updates significantly streamline the updating process, it’s important to monitor their effects, as they may sometimes lead to mismatches.

5. Utilize Supplemental Feeds

Tip: Use supplemental feeds to enrich your main product feed with additional information like promotional text or custom labels. Supplemental feeds can’t function independently, but are a great way to add depth to your primary feed.
How: For detailed instructions, check out our dedicated blog post about using supplemental feeds on Google Merchant Center.

6. Collect Customer Reviews

Tip: Opt into Google Customer Reviews to gather authentic post-purchase feedback from your customers. Ads with Seller Ratings can see a 2% higher click-through rate (CTR) on average.
How: Enable this feature in your Merchant Center to automatically request reviews from customers after purchase.

7. Highlight Special Offers with Merchant Promotions

Tip: Merchant Promotions is a free feature on Google Shopping that allows you to showcase special offers, discounts, and other incentives directly on your product listings.
How: To enable Merchant Promotions, follow the step-by-step guide available at Google’s support page. 

Note: Merchant Promotions is not available in all countries, so be sure to check its availability in your region.

8. Save Money with a 3rd-Party CSS like Shoply

Tip: By using a 3rd-party CSS provider like Shoply, you can benefit from a 20% CPC discount on your Google Shopping Ads within the European Union.
Why: This discount allows you to stretch your budget further, making your ads more competitive without increasing your spend.

Ready to Enhance Your Google Shopping Campaigns?

Start implementing these tips today to see improvements in your Shopping Ads performance.