Smart Feed : Creating a Google Product Feed (Limited Access)

Smart Feed lets you create, manage, and submit Google product feeds directly from your SHOPLINE store. You can sync your product catalog, connect Google Merchant Center, configure field rules, and keep your listings accurate with automated daily updates. 

This guide explains how to complete each step of the Google feed setup, submit your products, and troubleshoot errors.

Before You Start

Before setting up your Google product feed, make sure the following are in place:

• Products have been created and published in SHOPLINE Admin > Products.
• Products are enabled for the Online Store channel so that Google can crawl and verify them.
• You have a valid Google account.
• You have access to a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account.

Products That Will Not Be Synced

The following products are excluded from Smart Feed and will not be synced to GMC:

• Deleted or unpublished products
• Products not enabled for the Online Store channel
• Products flagged as unsellable by risk control
• Products hidden on the storefront via plugins
• Custom products (for example, products created within orders or via plugins)
• Products not yet at their scheduled publish date
• Products with inventory tracking enabled and a stock level of 0

Creating a Google Product Feed

Step 1: Sync Products from SHOPLINE

To pull the latest product data into Smart Feed:

1. In Smart Feed, go to: Manage products > Sync products.
2. The system will fetch product data from SHOPLINE via API.
    

Recommended usage: After making bulk updates or changes to key products in SHOPLINE, it is recommended to manually trigger a sync.

Step 2: Connect Google Merchant Center (GMC)

To connect your GMC account to Smart Feed:

1. Go to Manage channels> Channel Connection > Google

   

2. Click Add Channel and complete the authorization
3. Log in and authorize your Google account.
4. Select the GMC account you want to sync products to.
5. Complete the remaining setup steps. Your products will sync to the selected GMC account after configuration is finished.

Step 3: Setting the Product Sync Scope

Product filtering rules determine which products will be synced to GMC.To define your sync scope:

1. Select products to include or exclude using one of the following methods:

   1. Specify products by SPU ID, SKU ID, SKU, product title, product tags, or product category
       

      

   2. Upload a spreadsheet for bulk filtering (recommended for large catalogs)
       

      

2. After the initial setup, the system proceeds to field rule configuration.

Step 4: Configure Product Field Rules

Smart Feed allows you to customize how product attributes map to Google Feed fields.

1. Review the pre-configured core fields. These are set up based on Google's best practices and are recommended to keep enabled.
2. Adjust field sources based on your needs. Fields you may want to customize include:

• Product title
• Product type
• Custom product attributes
  

3. For color, size, material, and pattern fields, use macros to pull values directly from your SHOPLINE product attributes.

Macro Settings: For attributes such as color, size, material, and pattern, you can use macros to pull values from SHOPLINE product attributes.

Example: If you enter color as a macro, Smart Feed will fetch the corresponding value (e.g., “red”) from product attributes and populate the Google Feed field.
 

Price Macros: To avoid empty price fields in your Google feed, choose from the following macros when configuring the price field:

• Market Original Price (formerly Original Price): Uses the original price set in the market — for both your main market and any sub-markets.
• Market Sale Price (formerly Sale Price): Uses the sale price set in the market — for both your main market and any sub-markets.
• Dynamic Market Original Price: Uses the market's original price first. If that price isn't set, it automatically uses the market's sale price instead, so this field is never left empty.
• Legacy Sale Price: Available only to stores upgraded from Feed 1.0. Uses the store's limited-time promotional price if one is active, otherwise uses the market's sale price.
• Legacy Original Price: Available only to stores upgraded from Feed 1.0. Uses the market's original price first, falling back to the market's sale price if it isn't set.

Inventory field behavior: Smart Feed applies the following logic:

• Stock = 0 and overselling disabled: Product is shown as "Out of stock"

• All other cases: Inventory status is updated automatically

Step 5: Previewing Your Product Feed

The preview page shows the exact data that will be submitted to GMC.. To preview your feed:

1. In the field settings page, click Preview.

   

2. Review a selection of familiar products and check the following:
   • Field values are correct

   • Product variants are complete

     

Step 6: Submitting Products to Google Merchant Center

To start syncing your products to GMC: In the Field Settings page, click Save

Submission Process

• The system generates product data based on filtering and field rules
• Data is submitted to GMC via the Google Merchant API

Check Sync Status:

You can monitor progress via:

• Push Logs: View task start time and number of successful submissions

  

• Submitted Products: View successfully synced products
• Manage products > Submitted: View overall records

Step 7: Automatic Daily Updates

Smart Feed automatically syncs your product data to GMC once per day, keeping your listings up to date without manual effort. To view update records, go to Push Logs.
 

Step 8: Reviewing Errors and Disapproved Products

Products that fail submission or are disapproved by Google can be found in the Error Messages page. To resolve issues:

1. Go to Error Messages and filter products by error type.
2. Check your field configuration in Field Settings to ensure all required fields are correctly mapped.
3. Review product data completeness in SHOPLINE Admin.
4. Fix issues in batches by filtering by error type.
    

Common causes of errors:

• Missing required fields
• Invalid field formats
• Incomplete product data

Missing Product IDs: If a product doesn't have a SKU entered in SHOPLINE Admin, its product ID is empty and Smart Feed can't create or update that product in GMC. The product is marked "Submission Failed" and appears in both the All Products and Error Messages tabs, with an alert shown at the top of each tab. To resolve this, add a SKU to the product in SHOPLINE Admin.

Duplicate Product IDs: If two or more product variants share the same SKU, Smart Feed submits only the variant that was processed most recently — the other variant is not submitted and appears in the Error Messages tab instead. To resolve this, give the affected variant a unique SKU, then click Re-check in the Error Messages tab to submit it again.

Empty Required Fields on the Product Detail Page: If any of the following fields are empty for a product, Smart Feed flags it directly on that product's detail page: id, title, description, link, image_link, availability, and price.
 

FAQs About Google Product Feed Setup

Q1: Does Smart Feed support TrustArc as a consent management platform (CMP)?

Yes. If your store uses TrustArc as its Consent Management Platform (CMP), Smart Feed will automatically work with it regardless of which channel you are syncing to.

Specifically, Smart Feed listens to TrustArc consent signals and monitors any changes to the user's privacy consent status. Based on those signals, it will activate or deactivate Google tracking (including Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Remarketing) accordingly. This means tracking SDKs are only loaded and events are only fired when the user has explicitly consented, in line with Google's Consent Mode requirements and GDPR regulations.

No additional configuration is required on the Smart Feed side. As long as TrustArc is set up correctly in your store, the integration is handled automatically.

Q2: What makes the Dynamic Market Original Price macro different?

Unlike Market Original Price, which leaves the price field empty if a market has no original price set, Dynamic Market Original Price automatically uses the market's sale price as a fallback. This keeps the price field from submitting empty to Google.

Q3: Why were the Original Price and Sale Price macros renamed?

They were renamed to Market Original Price and Market Sale Price to make clear that both pull the price set at the market level — for your main market and any sub-markets — rather than the price in your main product catalog.

Q4: Can I still use the Legacy Sale Price and Legacy Original Price macros?

Yes, but only if your store was upgraded from Smart Feed (Classic). If your Classic Feed setup uses Sale Price, it defaults to Legacy Sale Price after upgrading. If it uses Original Price, it defaults to Legacy Original Price.