What is Google Merchant Center?

To take advantage of business opportunities offered by Google Shopping, e-tailers must go through the Google Merchant Center. This interface allows you to import your product catalogue’s data directly on to Google Shopping and manage its products flow in real time.

The Google Merchant Center was launched jointly in 2010 with the Google Shopping Platform. Its purpose is to facilitate uploading and editing product references in order to advertise through Google Shopping. In addition, Google Merchant Center allows you to showcase your products on Youtube and other Google partner sites.

The procedures are simple. Just create a Google Merchant Center account and set up your products’ data according to the instructions issued by the platform:

write a descriptive product sheet for each item being sold, along with mandatory and optional attributes;
send those product sheets by creating data dissemination into a suitable file (XML, TXT, CSV, sometimes via an API).

Google Merchant Center then allows you to make regular updates and to have your sheets translated in order to access foreign markets. Finally, since a recent update, the Google Merchant Center provides a new section entitled “Company information”, which enables you to manage your business contact information and import logos on Google Shopping.