What Google has dubbed the “new Feeds experience,” retailers new to Google Shopping or with brand new Merchant Center accounts are getting a first-hand access to an entirely updated UI for the feeds section.
The update was recent and apparently very hush hush. A few of the accounts we manage are seeing the changes.
What We Know
Not much of anything else has changed within Merchant Center, although the Tax Settings UI was also recently overhauled as well.
The Feeds section of Merchant Center was cleaned up a bit with Primary feeds and Supplemental feeds now separated.
- Primary Feeds: What will be used for displaying your products on Google Shopping and is the only feed you are required to submit.
- Supplemental Feeds: Supplemental feeds can be used to provide additional data to an existing primary feed, override primary data, or update existing data.
Supplemental feeds should prove to be a great way to clean up or optimize product data without having to update the base Primary feed and then reupload to Merchant Center.
Further explanation and directions can be found in Google Merchant Center Support.
Additionally, Google updated the actual feed setup UI. Nothing about the requirements or steps has changed, however Google, as of late, has seemingly been working towards cleaner, more responsive UIs within not only Merchant Center but also AdWords and Analytics.
2017 Product Feed Specifications Update
As a quick note we also wanted to re-inform you of the most recent updates to Google’s Product Feed Specifications which went into effect as of late June.
Detailed information can be found at https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7397566?hl=en.
New and updated attributes for feeds (which should be in full enforcement):
- Minimum Order Value: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7378591
- Shipping Weight Limits Added: https://blog.salesandorders.com/google-shopping-updating-shipping-weight-and-shipping-attributes-for-merchant-center-product-feeds
- Handling Time: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7388496
Aside from the Shipping Weight Limits targeting extremely heavy or bulky products, retailers did not see these updates hurting them or causing feeds to be disapproved.
If anything, the options of Minimum Order Value and Min/Max Handling Times are geared towards improving, or at least supplementing existing product data.
Retailers affected by the Shipping Weight Limits most likely belong to niche industries such as industrial equipment, large machinery, and potentially products within the auto parts and home appliance verticals.
The Bottom Line
Google is on a role! We’re loving all the updates, big and small.