Would you like to learn how to have your Shopify product catalog available for shopping on Facebook and Google? Shopify’s Google’s Sales Channel integrates Google’s Merchant Center with your Shopify store, allowing your products to be shopped from Google Search, Google My Business, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram’s Feed. Here, you will learn How to Optimize Shopify Products for E-commerce Marketing and make products visible on Google, Facebook, and Instagram sales channels.

In 2021 assigning product categories to each item was not necessary for your products to sync to Google. Now on 2022, the game has changed. But Team Momentum has your back so you can crush online sales and reach.

With new market trends and Google cracking down on offering the most accurate information, it is important to stay up to date. More importantly, the more sales channels your products are available on, the merrier. 

Each sales channel has its own market, demographics, psychographics etc. And each one provides a unique opportunity to increase product reach of new potential consumers. Here, you will learn here how to sync your Shopify Catalog to Make Your Shopify Products Shoppable on Google.

Google’s Merchant Center requires you now to select a Google product category along with other details from Shopify’s product page, so your catalog syncs. 

Any product missing this category and fields will no longer appear on Google Searches, on Facebook, Instagram Shop, or on your Google My Business Listing.

So let’s fix that issue so your products are visible to a much bigger audience, available to Shop on Google, and therefore, increase sales.

When you set up the Google channel on Shopify for the first time, all of the products that are available to your online store are automatically synced with Google Merchant Center. 

You can change the availability of a product manually or in bulk for several products. 

To set up Shopify’s Google sales channel, you need to have a Google account and a Google Merchant Center account. Follow these steps to set up Google Sales Channel:

Google Merchant Center is a tool that helps you upload your store and product data to Google and make them available for Google Smart Shopping campaigns and other Google services. – Google Merchant Center.

A Google Merchant Center account needs to be associated with a verified domain. That domain cannot be associated with another Google account. This is important if you want to Optimize Shopify Products for E-commerce Marketing.

To use the Google channel, you need to make sure that your online store meets the Google Merchant Center requirements:

• You need a Shopify online store, and your store can’t be password-protected.
• You need to add a valid payment provider in your Shopify admin.
• You need to add a Refund Policy and Terms of Service to your online store. 
• You need to add your contact information to a page in your online store, and the information needs to be visible to customers. 
• You need to include at least 2 contact methods.

Providing product category information can help customers browse and search for your store’s products on Instagram and Facebook. It can increase your store’s discoverability, and help improve your ad performance. 

In order to optimize Shopify Products for E-commerce Marketing, Google requires specific information about your products before you can publish them on Google. The Google channel imports your existing product data from Shopify, but you might need to add some additional information before you can sync products with Google Merchant Center.

Most products only need the following information added:

• Google product category
• Unique product identifiers

While other products also require additional details:

• Gender
• Age Group
• Condition

Google has specific requirements for the following categories:

• Apparel & accessories
• Media
• Books

Product options, including variants, need to be in English to sync with Google.

Google Product Category

To make sure that your products are categorized accurately on Google, you should add a Google Product Category to products.

Google has specific requirements for products that are in the Apparel & accessories, Media, or Books Google Product Categories. When you select a category for a product in the Google channel, you need to add this additional product information.

Read Google’s guide to product categories to learn more.

Unique product identifiers

Google requires you to have a unique product identifier for each of your products. 

If these identifiers aren’t correct, then Google doesn’t publish your products and your account could be suspended. Learn more about unique product identifiers from Google Merchant Center Help.

If a product has a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), then you need to add it before you can publish the product. 

For products without a GTIN, you need to add an MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) and brand to the product data in the Google channel. Some categories allow for “custom product”, and in some cases, these do not need a GTIN nor MPN.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Google.
2. On the Overview page, go to the Product feed section.
3. Besides a product status, click the link to view your synced products in a bulk editor.
4. Click Edit Google fields.
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.

You can also edit each product individually by clicking “Manage” on the sales channels for that item.

Having all your products available on sales channels like Google, will increase visibility, reach, sessions and conversions. You will be able to tag products from your catalog on ads, Facebook, and Instagram posts. Your audience will be able to shop your products directly from their Facebook feed, your Instagram Shop, or from Google My Business.

So, if you want to step up your online store’s game by increasing reach and sales, it is important to learn How to Optimize Shopify Products for E-commerce Marketing. Now, you products will be available to tag and shop on main channels like Google, Instagram, and Facebook.