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Creating a Google Merchant Center Account

If you plan to promote your products through Google Ads (for example, via Shopping Ads or Performance Max campaigns), the first step is to create a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account. This account allows you to upload product data, verify your store domain, and connect it to your Google Ads account to start advertising.

This guide will walk you through how to create a Google Merchant Center account and prepare it for connecting with your Google Ads account.

 

 

About Google Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center (GMC) is a free platform provided by Google that helps merchants effectively showcase and promote their products across Google’s channels.

Through GMC, you can:

  • Manage Product Data: Upload and manage key product details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and inventory.
  • Automate Data Sync: Use data feed uploads to bulk import product information, ensuring your data remains accurate and complete at scale.
  • Verify Ownership: Verify and claim your store domain to confirm ownership of the ecommerce website that hosts your products.
  • Enable Advertising: Connect your GMC account to Google Ads to create Shopping Ads and Performance Max campaigns. Once connected, Google Ads can access your product data from GMC to display your products across Google Search and Google Shopping through your ad campaigns.
Note: Syncing your store’s product data to Google Merchant Center is required for running Shopping Ads and Performance Max campaigns on Google Ads.

 

 

Setting Up Your Google Merchant Center Account

Follow the steps below to create your GMC account and complete the basic setup:

  1. Visit Google Merchant Center and click Start now in the upper-right corner.

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  2. Log in with your Google account (Gmail). If you don’t have one, click Create account and follow the on-screen instructions.

  3. Fill in the required details, such as your business type (online and/or physical) and your website URL, then click Continue.

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  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Continue to Merchant Center.

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  5. At this step, you can edit your Business name and Registered country. Click Edit under your website domain to adjust them as needed, then click Continue to Merchant Center.

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  6. In the pop-up window, click Continue to verify your identity.

  7. After verification, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the six required setup tasks:

    Important: All business information, shipping plans, and return policies should be consistent with those configured in your online store.

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      • Provide your registered business address
      • Confirm ownership of your store domain. It’s recommended to click More ways to verify and follow the "Verifying Your Store Domain in Google Merchant Center" guide
      • Select the countries where you sell your products
      • Choose a preferred method to add your products and complete product synchronization. We recommend using Smart Feed. For detailed steps, refer to "Smart Feed: Creating a Google Feed"
      • Configure shipping details for your selling country
      • Add the return policy for your products
  1. Click the final Continue, and you’ll be directed to the Admin of your Google Merchant Center account.
Note: To start running ad campaigns for your products on Google, connect your Google Ads account to your Google Merchant Center account first.

     

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does the verification of the store domain fail?

According to system requirements, the domain name verified in GMC must be exactly the same as your store’s domain (including URL symbols) for successful verification.

Please carefully compare the domain address of your store with the GMC-verified domain, including URL prefixes such as https:// or http://, and check for any trailing symbols (e.g., /).

If inconsistencies exist, go to GMC to re-verify the domain before attempting verification again.

Examples of inconsistent domains:

  • www.abc.com vs abc.com
  • https://www.abc.com vs www.abc.com
  • www.abc.com vs www.abc.com/
  • https://abc.com vs http://abc.com
Note: Do not change your store’s domain name arbitrarily, as this will affect GMC verification and product feed synchronization. If your store domain has changed, re-verify it in GMC promptly. If a product feed is already active, re-sync your products after completing domain re-verification.

2. Why is my product feed filtered out and not synced successfully?

When uploading products to GMC, even if you specify a certain product category, the Feed synchronization process reviews all products on your site to determine which meet the upload criteria.

Only products that meet these requirements will be uploaded to GMC. Those that do not qualify will still appear in the Feed product list, along with the specific reasons provided by Smart Feed.