This guide is for small store owners who manage products in a spreadsheet and have no platform plugin to push data to Google. By the end, you’ll have a working Google Merchant Center Google Sheets data source and a sync schedule that matches how often your stock and prices change. You’ll also know when to move to a TSV or XML file instead.

You’ll need a Merchant Center account that’s already created and your product data to hand. If you haven’t set the account up yet, start with https://oxfordimpulse.com/how-to-set-up-google-merchant-center/ and come back. If the word “feed” is new to you, https://oxfordimpulse.com/beginners-guide-google-merchant-center-feed/ explains the basics. In short, a feed is just your product data in a format Google can read. Here, the feed is a spreadsheet.

Step 1: Gather the data Google requires

Before you touch Merchant Center, check you have the basics for every product. Google’s product data specification lists these as required for all products: id, title, description, link, image_link, price and availability^[6]. Add brand for new products (movies, books and music are the exceptions) and condition if the item is used or refurbished^[6].

Missing data causes avoidable errors. Google’s file guidance lists leaving out id, title, price, availability or link among the common file errors^[3].

Identifiers deserve a minute of your time too. If your products have barcodes, you’ll want to supply the gtin attribute (Global Trade Item Number). What it is and where to find yours is covered at https://oxfordimpulse.com/what-is-gtin-google-merchant-center/ and is worth reading before you fill in the sheet.

Step 2: Create the Google Sheets data source from the template

The template route is a straightforward way to start. Here’s the exact path^[1]:

1. Sign in to Merchant Center and open Products under Products & store.
2. Select Add products. If you already have a source, select Add another product source.
3. Choose Use Google Sheets.
4. Select Use template.

There’s a second route through the settings. Click the gear icon, open Data sources, stay on the Primary sources tab and select Add product source. You’ll be offered a file, a Google Sheets template or an API^[2]. The same menu lets you use an existing Google Sheet that already contains product data^[2]. If you’ve kept a product list for a while, that may save you retyping.

Next you add your product details to the template^[1].

Step 3: Fill in the feed template

Open the sheet. The first rows are instructions and examples, and Google is explicit about them: add your product details to the template and be sure to delete rows 2 to 5, as they contain instructions and examples^[1]. Those rows are not your products, so they have to go before the first sync.

Then work through your catalogue, one product per row. A few habits keep the data clean:

• Write titles the way a shopper would search. Put the brand, the product type and the key detail (size, colour, material) up front.
• Use the full product page URL in link and a direct image URL in image_link.
• Enter price with the currency, for example 24.99 GBP, matching your site.
• Use the exact accepted values for availability, such as in_stock or out_of_stock^[6].

Escaping commas and colons

Sheets has its own quirks. Escape commas and colons with a backslash, and don’t wrap attribute values in double quotes^[1]. So a description containing a comma should have a backslash before it.

Step 4: Set the sync schedule

Once the data’s in, return to Merchant Center and set how often it reads the sheet. The default schedule is every 24 hours. You set it in Merchant Center, then select Continue^[1].

Think about how often your prices and stock change. With a 24-hour schedule, a change you make in the sheet may wait until the next scheduled read, which leaves a window where Google could show old information. Set the schedule to suit how you actually work.

Step 5: Check for errors after the first sync

After the first sync, open Products and look at the Needs attention tab. Product issues show up there^[1].

If you see a list, work through it in this order:

1. Open the issue and read the exact message. Note the attribute it names.
2. Open one affected product in your sheet and compare it with the product page in a private browser window.
3. Fix the cell in the sheet, because the sheet is your source of data.
4. Wait for the next scheduled sync and check the tab again.

There’s no review time to rely on here, so make the changes and check the tab again later.

Step 6: Know when Google Sheets isn’t enough

Sheets suits catalogues you update by hand. If you outgrow that, a file is the next option^[2].

Google’s file guidance covers the limits^[3]:

• Accepted file types are .txt, .xml and .tsv.
• The maximum size is 4 GB.
• Compressed files in .gz, .zip and .bz2 format are accepted.
• Use UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding. Saving in another encoding is a known cause of file errors^[3].

Exporting a TSV from Sheets

You don’t have to leave your spreadsheet to use a file. From Sheets, choose File, then Download, then Tab-Separated Values (.tsv)^[3]. A tab-delimited file has its own rules: the first line must be the header, and there must be no trailing tabs^[4]. If your sheet has empty columns at the end, delete them before exporting so you don’t create trailing tabs.

When XML makes sense

XML follows the RSS 2.0 specification. Each item needs a title, link and description, and the file name must end in .xml^[5]. XML suits developers or systems that generate the file automatically. If you’re hand-editing a spreadsheet, TSV is the simpler choice. Pick XML only if your software already produces it.

To add a file source, use the settings route from Step 2 and choose a file instead of the Sheets template^[2].

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Leaving the example rows in. Delete rows 2 to 5 of the template^[1].
• Changing ids. Keep ids stable, for example by using the SKU.
• Quoting values. Don’t wrap attribute values in double quotes in Sheets^[1].
• Unescaped commas and colons. Put a backslash before them^[1].
• Fixing problems in the wrong place. The sheet is your source of data, so correct problems there.
• Forgetting stock changes. Update availability in the sheet when something sells out.
• Wrong encoding on exported files. Use UTF-8 or UTF-16^[3].

FAQs

Sources

• Google Merchant Center Help: Add products to Merchant Center using Google Sheets support.google.com
• Google Merchant Center Help: Create a product data source support.google.com
• Google Merchant Center Help: Create a product file for Merchant Center support.google.com
• Google Merchant Center Help: Create a tab-delimited product data source support.google.com
• Google Merchant Center Help: RSS 2.0 specification support.google.com
• Google Merchant Center Help: Product data specification support.google.com