Create a free Google Merchant Center account, verify and claim your website, add your business details, shipping and return policy, then upload your product data. Approved products can appear for free on Google Shopping. For paid Shopping ads, link Merchant Center to Google Ads and run a Standard Shopping or Performance Max campaign.
There are two ways onto Google Shopping: free listings and paid Shopping ads. Both use the same product data from Google Merchant Center, so the setup is identical until the last step.
What do you need to set up in Merchant Center?
- A Merchant Center account. It's free. Google says new accounts are opted in to free listings by default.
- A verified and claimed website. Verifying tells Google you own the store, claiming links the store address to your account. You can verify through your e-commerce platform, email, an HTML tag or file, Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics.
- Business information. A business name that complies with Google's policies, plus an address, phone number and email that match what your website shows.
- Shipping and returns. Shipping settings (or the
shippingattribute) are required in many countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU. Google also asks for a clear return and refund policy on your website. - Product data. Most of these attributes are required: ID, title, link, image link, price, description and availability. You can add products through a platform integration such as the Google & YouTube app on Shopify, or a product data file.
- Matching landing pages. Each product link must lead to a page that matches the listing.
How are free listings and Shopping ads different?
| Free listings | Shopping ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | You pay for clicks or engagements |
| Where they show | Search, the Shopping tab, Images, Lens, YouTube, Maps and Gemini | Paid placements across Google, depending on the campaign type |
| Control | Google decides visibility, and showing is not guaranteed | You set budget, bids and which products to push |
| What you need | Merchant Center | Merchant Center linked to Google Ads, plus a payment method |
How do you start Shopping ads?
- Link your Merchant Center account to Google Ads.
- Add a payment method in Google Ads.
- Create a campaign. Any campaign you create inside Merchant Center is a Performance Max campaign. In Google Ads you can choose between Performance Max and a Standard Shopping campaign.
- Pick the products to advertise by feed label. See whether you can change the country of sale for how feed labels work.
Not sure which campaign type fits? I compare them in Shopping ads vs. Performance Max.
How long until products show?
Google shows products as "Under review" while it checks them, which may take up to 3 to 5 business days for Shopping ads and a few weeks for other features. Even when approved, Google says products aren't guaranteed to show, because it matches your data to what people search for.
In my experience, most delays come from the store, not the feed: a missing return policy, unclear contact details or shipping information that doesn't match. Check those before you upload products, because Google reviews the business as well as the listings. If something gets flagged, see why products get disapproved.
For a deeper walkthrough, read my guide to Google Shopping ads.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/13889434
- Google Merchant Center Help: Verify and claim your online store - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/11586344
- Google Merchant Center Help: Fix Merchant Center policy warnings and issues - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/13693195
- Google Merchant Center Help: Advertise your products using Merchant Center - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/12500202
- Google Merchant Center Help: Check product visibility and status in Merchant Center - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/12488713