Setting up Google Shopping — nothing happens without Merchant Center
The difference from a normal search campaign: in Shopping you do not write ad copy, you supply product data. What gets served is decided by the quality of that feed, not by your way with words.
No link, no Shopping campaign
Google states it as a requirement, not a recommendation: "You need to link your Google Ads account and your Merchant Center account before you can create Shopping campaigns." (Merchant Center Help)
And one step earlier, which many skip: "Ensure both your Google Ads and Merchant Center accounts don't have any account-level policy violations before linking." (Merchant Center Help)
So an account-level policy problem does not merely block your ads, it blocks the link itself. If your Google Ads account is suspended, solve that first — see account suspended.
What Google uses the product data for
The mechanism, in one sentence from Google's own specification: the data is what Google uses to match your products to relevant searches (Merchant Center Help).
In Shopping, the feed does the job that keywords and ad text do elsewhere. A thin product title is therefore not a cosmetic flaw, it is a reach problem.
The required attributes
| Attribute | Field |
|---|---|
| ID | id |
| Title | title (or structured_title) |
| Description | description (or structured_description) |
| Link | link |
| Image link | image_link |
| Availability | availability |
| Price | price |
Source: Merchant Center product data specification.
Seven fields sounds trivial — the work is keeping price and availability permanently in step with the shop. Mismatches between feed and landing page are the most common reason products get disapproved.
The order in practice
- Google Ads account with billing and conversion tracking — see setting up Google Ads.
- Create Merchant Center, add business details.
- Supply a product feed with the required attributes.
- Check both accounts for policy violations.
- Link them.
- Only then create the Shopping campaign — create a campaign.
What Shopping does not fix
If your margin cannot carry the click price, Shopping does not change that — it only makes the maths more visible, because prices are compared side by side. The honest calculation is in the cost guide and the small-budget guide.