How to Set up a Product Feed Using WooCommerce

When creating shopping campaigns in Google Ads, merchant center will ask you to upload a product feed to advertise your products to prospective customers. This article will help you create that product feed and show you how to then export it so that you can get started on showing off your products to the world!

How to Set up a Product Feed Using WooCommerce

While there are multiple different ways to set up a product feed, this article will be focusing solely on creating product feeds within WooCommerce, with the purpose of exporting them to Google Merchant Center for Shopping Ads.

  • Download the WooCommerce Google Product Feed extension
  • Create a new product feed
  • Select the product data attributes you would like to be included in your product feed
  • Set up and fetch your feed

1. Download the WooCommerce Google Product Feed extension

Before you can begin creating your product feed, you must purchase and download the WooCommerce Google Product Feed extension. This can be done within WooCommerce itself or by opening up a web browser and searching for the extension that way. Once you have purchased the extension you must activate it within WooCommerce, the extension will then be ready for you to start inputting your product data.

2. Creating a new product feed

When creating your product feed there are a number of boxes that must be filled out for Google to properly advertise that product. Keep in mind that the more attributes you can enter the better, but some are more important than others when it comes to creating a functioning product feed.

The required product feed attributes are as follows:

    • Product title (maximum 150 characters)
    • Product description (maximum 5,000 characters)
    • Product image (your image should be clear and simple with a solid background and no other items within the frame other than your product)
    • Price
    • Global trade item number (this is your product’s UPC, EAN, or ISBN reference number)
  • Brand
  • Manufacturer part number (this is also known as a SKU number)
  • Google product category (not all products will fit perfectly into just one category, try to find the category that best describes the product you are trying to sell)

For some products, additional details or customizations are involved such as:

  • Sizing options
  • Color options
  • Materials
  • Patterns
  • Genders

Overall, the more product attributes you can include for each product the better. Some attributes may not be applicable for every product, but if you have the information or if the attribute is applicable it is best practice to include it even if it may seem arbitrary.

It is also important to note that feeds are supported in two formats: plain text (.txt) and extensible markup language (.xml). Plain text files are simpler and smaller and are usually best to use if you are new to product feeds as they are much easier to use. Extensible markup language files contain images and details but also must contain descriptions on how to display those images and details. This type of file can give you more customization but is also more advanced to use and is recommended for the experienced user.

3. Set up and fetch your feed within Google Merchant Center

Once you have all of your product info entered into WooCommerce within the WooCommerce Google Product Feed extension it is time to export the data and fetch it within Google Merchant Center so that the data can be used within Google Shopping Ads.

To do this, you will need to first find your product feed’s URL within WooCommerce. You will need to copy this web address and then enter it into Google Merchant Center to link your product feed. Linking this URL will allow your product feed to automatically sync with Google Merchant Center so any updates or changes made to your product feed within WooCommerce will also update within Google Merchant Center. Google Merchant Center will also send live data updates to WooCommerce about which products are more popular, how many products are selling, etc. This quick transfer of information makes it easy to keep track of your products and their ad success on both platforms.

Commonly Asked Questions:

Which ad campaigns use a product feed?

Currently, within Google Ads, the shopping campaign is the only ad campaign that works in conjunction with a product feed. However, don’t let that deter you! Shopping campaigns are highly successful and account for almost 75% of all advertisements on the internet today. Taking the time to properly set up your product feed will set you up for great success with your shopping campaigns.

How many products can I add to a single product feed?

WooCommerce allows you to add as many or as little products to your product feed as you want. Whether you have 3 products, or 3 thousand, WooCommerce product feeds can do it all.

How do I know if my campaign is performing well?

While what is considered “good performance” greatly varies from business to business, there are a few things to look for when you’re first getting started. A CTR (click through rate) of 2% or higher is considered a good interaction rate with your website, and anything below a 1% is generally bad. When looking at conversions, the best tool to use is the Conversion Value/Cost. This calculates your ROAS (return on ad investment) and a ROAS higher than 4 is generally considered good. Keep in mind these numbers will vary and can mean different things depending on your ad goals so it is important to look at the campaign as a whole and over a period of time to determine the level of success.

Related Articles:

Everything You Need to Know About Google Ad Keywords

How to Set up a Shopping Ad in Google Ads

How to Set up a Shopping Campaign in Google Ads

The Different Types of Google Ads and How to Use Them

Google Ad Bidding Strategies and When to Use Each One

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