Different Types of Feeds for Google Merchant Center

Introduction

Feeds are the components of Google Merchant Center (GMC) that allow you to input and sync product information. When you create a feed, your products will be listed on Google Shopping. There are four different types of feeds:

Content API

The Content API is a free service that lets you upload your product data to Google. It’s best for large-scale product updates and can be used by most sellers, including those with a large number of products (more than 10 million). The Content API is not available in all countries, but if it’s available in yours and you have the resources to manage it, this is a great option. Content API allows for real time updates to products as they happen on your website. For example, if your product was sold out recently, Content API would update the feed and let Google know that the product is no longer in stock.

Manual Feed

The Manual Feed is a file that you upload to Merchant Center via the Import/Export tab when using Google’s Merchant Center. You can upload a CSV (comma-separated values), XML (Extensible Markup Language) or TXT (Text File) file.

Manually updating your product data in Merchant Center is the easiest way to make changes and updates, but it’s not always possible, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of products listed on your site. By uploading a manual feed, you can import new products and product variants, update prices and other attributes for existing products on Google Shopping—all from Excel! You can also use Google Sheets to upload your product data, but it has its shortcomings. If you prices and stock status change often, you will need to upload the data multiple times a day. Sometimes, if your shopping cart software does not have the API capability or if you do not want to pay for an app to do it for you, manual feed may be the only option. When a store doesn’t have many products or does not change product information that often, manual feed is one of the best ways to submit data to Google Merchant Center (GMC).

Supplement Feed

Supplement Feed is not used to add new products to your Google Merchant Center account, rather it is used to update products that are currently listed on your account. You can create a supplement feed in the same way you’d create a standard feed, but it has some specific requirements that make it different from other feeds:

• A product must be in your inventory before you can upload a supplement.
• When you create a supplement feed, all products within that supplement will be accepted by Google.

Inventory Local Feed

Inventory Local Feed is useful for brick-and-mortar businesses. It allows you to set up multiple locations and products in each location. This feed can be used to sell inventory in different countries, or it can be used to manage inventory across multiple locations within the same country. Inventory feed is used mostly for Free Local Listings and Local Listings, which are programs that require a business to have a store front with a verified inventory. It is different from Free Listings and Shopping Ads.

Each type of feed has its pros and cons.

Google Merchant Center is a way to get your product data into Google Shopping. There are 4 types of feeds you can use to get your product data into Google Shopping, each with its pros and cons.

Conclusion

Google Merchant Center is a powerful tool for managing your product data and inventory. However, the overwhelming number of options can make it difficult to choose which type of feed is best for you. Hopefully we’ve helped clear things up by giving you an overview of each type so that when you’re ready to make a decision about what kind of feed works best for your business, you can do so confidently.