How to Generate Your First Google Shopping Feed

Step 1 - Google Merchant Center Setup

You’re ready to branch into the world of Google Products? Follow this how to article to setup your Google Product Feed.

For Google's specifications on Product Feeds, click here.

First you must verify and link all of your Google accounts. You can follow this article for instructions: Click Here. You can also find this information on Google Support forums: Click Here

Once you have verified your accounts, follow the steps below to complete you product feed:

In Google Merchant Center, set up your Shipping settings.

IMPORTANT: Please note that you will need to inflate your Google Merchant Center shipping settings with a 10% to 15% fee over what you have within your RevolutionParts realtime shipping settings. Make sure to match each method and apply the inflated fee to Google Merchant Center. Any changes in shipping methods will need to be updated within Google Merchant Center.

We encourage you to inflate your shipping costs in Google Merchant Center because if the shipping on your site is higher than the shipping in Merchant Center, Google could suspend your account due to shipping policy violations.  Google does not seem to mind if shipping costs on Merchant center are higher than on the site, which is why we encourage inflating them.  If you have any other questions regarding Merchant Center shipping inflation, feel free to contact support at support@revolutionparts.com.

IMPORTANT: In addition to inflation to successfully calculate accurate shipping no handling fees can be on the RP site. Please remove all handling fees from the RP Control panel. Handling fees create a miscalculation in Merchant Center and could cause account suspension.

Taxes and Shipping

1. Click on the “Tax” tab
2. Click the “Configure tax and set up nexus” option
3. Save
4. Select your state
5. Click the “Shipping” tab
6. Select the “Target Country”
7. Input the “Transit Time”
8. Input the “Minimum Order Value”
9. Name your method
10. Create a “Carrier Rate” in the “Shipping Cost” section
11. Go to “Advanced Settings” and fill in the necessary information
12. “Adjust by %” should match what you have set up in your RP Admin Panel
13. Save
    

After clicking "Save," leave this window open. You'll need it to complete feed setup.

Step 2 - Setting up the Product Feed

1. Log into your account on manage.revolutionparts.com
2. Click the arrow to the far top-right next to your name and company name
3. Click "Account Settings"
   
4. Select the "Store Settings" to the left
5. Click on your RevolutionParts store
   
6. Select Marketing > Google Shopping
   

7. Click the green "+New Feed" button in the upper right to add a new feed

   
8. New Data Feed:
   • Data Feed Source - OE Catalog or Custom
   • Catalog Type - Select from dropdown
   • Filename - Name your file (name needs to match feed file in Merchant Center)
   • Notify - Enter the email you want your feed notification sent to
9. OE Filters:
   • Manufacturer - Select from dropdown
   • Expanded data - If Yes, this will include additional metadata information in the feed. If you are doing dynamic retargeting or if you are not sure, set this to "No"
   • Popular Parts Only - Select from dropdown
   • Custom Labels 0-4 - Select from dropdown
   • Product Image Source - Custom (will show your custom images if applicable); Catalog Images Only (custom images will not be used)
   • Only Include Parts With Custom Image - Set this value to "Yes" if you want your feed to only include parts you've uploaded an image for.
   • Include Out-of-Stock Parts - If you have an active inventory feed, set this to 'No' to only include parts that are in-stock.
   • Product Title Template - See the variables available to use to build the title template your products will use.
   • Description Template - See the variables available to use to build the description template your products will use.
   • Always Use Description Template - Set this value to "Yes" if you want to always use the description template above, even if the OE catalog has an actual description
   • Start Year - Only include parts for vehicles NEWER than this year
   • End Year - Only include parts for vehicles OLDER than this year
      
10. Common Filters:
    • Include Oversized Items - Select from dropdown
    • Only Include Parts with Valid W&D - Set this value to "Yes" if you want your feed to only include parts that we have valid W&Ds for.
    • Minimum List Price... - Only include products over this price in the feed.
    • Maximum List Price - Only include products less than this price in the feed. Leave blank for no limit. 
11. Click "Save Changes" located in the upper right corner
12. Copy/paste your FTP Credentials (see below on how to generate)

     

    Google FTP Credentials

    The Google FTP is an easy way to upload product feeds to Google Merchant Center automatically. 

    1. Click on the 3 white dots in upper right-hand side of the screen
    2. Select “SFTP/FTP/GCS”
    3. Click on the “FTP Settings” (Make sure to select the option for FTP, NOT SFTP.  ***SFTP will not work***)
    4. Once you've generated/obtained your FTP credentials, copy and paste them into the corresponding fields at the bottom of the Product Feed creation in the RevolutionParts Control Panel

NOTE:  All new feeds are generated within 2 hours. If you make any changes to the feed settings, they will push to Merchant Center automatically at the beginning of every month. If you wan the changes to push sooner than that, your feed will need to be regenerated by the RevolutionParts Support team.

Step 3 - Uploading Feed to Google Merchant Center

After the feed has been created and you've receive the notification email,

1. Go back to the “Shopping” section in the Marketing tab (steps below) and copy the file name exactly:
   • Click the arrow in the upper right (next to the admin name)
   • Select Store Settings w/in the left-side menu
   • Select on your RevParts store (not eBay)
   • Select Marketing
   • Select Google Shopping 
2. Go back to the Google Merchant Center
3. Click the “Products” tab.
4. Click “Feeds”
5. Select your “Target Country”
6. Paste the feed filename you copied into the "Feed name" field
7. Click “Continue”
8. Click Upload
9. Continue
10. Again paste the feed filename you copied from the feed setup page and then click “Save”.
11. Go back to the Shopping tab on the RevolutionParts side and click the “Resubmit” button. You may have to do this 2 or 3 times before Google registers your submission.
12. Lastly, refresh your Google Merchant Center page to make sure that the feed is processing.  You can verify this by checking the “Last Upload Date” section of your feed.

NOTE: The very first time a feed is uploaded it can take up to 3 business days for the feed to be approved. Subsequent feeds should be available immediately unless you receive a message from Google.

If all of this sounds complicated, you can become a customer of the RevolutionParts Marketing Agency to take care of it for you! To learn more, reach out to your account manager. If you're unsure who that is, contact RevolutionParts Support.