Price differs from the product page
Google found another price on the page than in the feed — often VAT, a sale that ended or a default variant.
Fix: Page Checks, the source
Merchant Center
See what Google thinks of your products
Connect Google Merchant Center and FeedManager shows which products Google approved, limited or disapproved, explains every issue in plain words with a link to the fix, and tells you when approvals drop — next to the feeds that sent the products.
Pro and above Reads Merchant Center, and writes only the price and stock updates you switch on; not counted toward your plan's sources.
Product statuses
Google's verdict on every product
A Merchant Center source reads your account's product statuses and writes them onto the products in FeedManager — so the product list, the product page and the feed show what Google decided.
- Each product gets Google's status — approved, limited, pending or disapproved — and the issues behind it: the attribute, Shopping ads or free listings, and the countries.
- Filter the Products list by Merchant Center status or by Google's issue code, and see a Merchant Center card on every product page.
- Products are matched on the id your Google feeds send, or on the SKU, item group or GTIN. Offers of one product in several feed labels or languages are merged into one status.
- Main → Merchant Center shows the counts by status, a 90-day chart and the most common issues, each with "Show these products". Daily summaries are kept for 13 months.
Merchant Center
Read today 06:00
Issues explained
Every issue in plain words, with the fix one click away
47 of Google's most common issue codes come with a short explanation and links to where you fix them — the Google feed's mapping or rules, the AI action that fills the field, Page Checks or Merchant Center itself. Other codes show Google's own words.
Placeholder image
Google sees a generic "no image" picture instead of the product.
Fix: Image mapping, AI image check
Invalid GTIN
The barcode has a wrong check digit or length.
Fix: GTIN mapping, rules
Unknown Google category
The google_product_category isn't in Google's taxonomy.
Fix: Categorize with AI, mapping
Promotional text in the title
The title says things like "free shipping" or "best price".
Fix: Wording checks, the Remove flagged words rule
Duplicate GTIN
Several products send the same GTIN, so Google keeps only one.
Fix: The Duplicate GTINs tag
Explain with AI
One click runs the feed-error explainer over the day's product and account issues: what they have in common, what to fix first and how. It uses AI credits like any other explanation, and the result stays linked from that day.
Per feed, not only per account
Every build of a Google feed counts the Merchant Center status of the products it writes. The feed's page shows how many of them Google approved and the ten most common issues, with the same fix links.
Account issues
Account warnings, before they become a suspension
Merchant Center also reports problems with the whole account. FeedManager lists them with Google's severity — critical, error or suggestion — the countries they affect and Google's help link, and adds a plain-language checklist for the common ones: misrepresentation, return policy, shipping, website claim, phone number and business details.
Check your store's trust signalsThe misrepresentation checklist
As shown next to a misrepresentation warning
- Show who runs the store: business name, address and a phone number or email at your domain.
- Link a clear return and refund policy and the shipping costs and times from every page — the footer.
- Make sure prices, stock and offers on product pages match the feed and the checkout.
- Remove claims you can't back up: "best price", fake countdowns, badges you weren't awarded.
- Serve the whole store over HTTPS, with a working checkout and the payment options shown before payment.
- After fixing, request a review in Merchant Center; repeated requests without changes delay it.
Alerts
Know when Google changes its mind
Approvals can drop without anything changing in your feed. Two alerts tell "our feed changed" apart from "Google changed", in the panel and by email to the account's managers.
Approvals dropped
Google approves 10% fewer products than the day before — or the share you set, from 1 to 99%. Small catalogs under 10 approved products don't raise it.
Account issue
Merchant Center reports a critical or error issue for the account, such as misrepresentation or a missing return policy. The alert resolves itself once Google stops reporting it.
Clicks, impressions and prices
Google's numbers in your rules
The same source reads each product's clicks and impressions and Google's price benchmark, and keeps them next to your Google Analytics numbers.
- Clicks, impressions and click-through rate over the last 7, 30 or 90 days, Shopping ads and free listings together.
- The performance labels preset can sort products into heroes, villains and zombies by these numbers instead of GA4's.
- Price benchmark: what Google sees other shops charge for the same
product, in the country you choose.
{benchmark_gap_pct}is how far the price shoppers pay is above or below it, in percent. - A price against the market label preset and the suggested tags Below market price and Above market price (more than 5% either way).
- Google provides benchmarks only for some accounts and products; without them, the statuses still arrive.
Price against the market — label preset
# rules appended to the Google feed, last match wins
custom_label_3 = "no_benchmark"
custom_label_3 = "at_market"
when {benchmark_gap_pct} is between -5 and 5
custom_label_3 = "below_market"
when {benchmark_gap_pct} < -5
custom_label_3 = "above_market"
when {benchmark_gap_pct} > 5Instant price and stock updates
Price and stock changes in Google within minutes
Your Google feed stays a file that Google fetches. Switch this on for a feed and the price, sale price and availability of products whose offer changed go to Merchant Center through Google's Merchant API a few minutes later — ahead of the next file.
- A run starts 30 seconds after a sync, a store update, a Product API batch or an edit changed a product's price, sale price, currency, availability or stock.
- The values come from the feed's own rules, filters and mapping, so they equal what the next file will say. A product that left the feed is sent as out of stock.
- Up to 1,000 changed products per run and at most half of Google's daily quota for your account; a bulk change beyond that is left to the file.
- The alert Price and stock updates failing tells you when the Google sign-in, its role or the data source stops the updates. Nothing is lost: the next good run catches up.
- For Google Merchant Center feeds that write one row per product, in accounts with a Merchant Center source. Advanced (multi-client) accounts aren't supported: Google's API doesn't manage their rules.
- Together with Instant updates from Shopify or WooCommerce, a price change travels from the store to FeedManager in about a minute, and on to Google a few minutes later.
What happens in Merchant Center
As the set-up page says before you switch it on
- FeedManager adds one supplemental data source and puts it first in the default rule of the data source you choose. Everything already in that rule stays, after it.
- Each value is taken back once Google has read a file that holds it, so the file stays the source of everything.
- Only products Merchant Center lists already are updated; new ones arrive with the file.
- A sale that ended still shows its sale price until Google reads the next file: a supplemental value can change a price but not remove one.
- Switching off removes the data source and restores the rule.
- The signed-in Google account needs a role in Merchant Center that may edit products.
Google feeds
Feeds that follow Google's 2026 specification
The Google Merchant Center template follows the product data specification of April 2026, including the attributes Google's AI shopping answers read.
The new attributes
video_link, handling times and cut-off, minimum order value, and the groups shipping, certification (EU energy label, EPREL), loyalty_program, installment and product_detail — nested in XML, in Google's text form in TSV.
Conversational attributes
item_group_title, variant_option and popularity_rank are worked out from your variants and GA4 sales. Q&A, related products and document links can be mapped from your attributes.
AI readiness
Google and ChatGPT builds are scored on what AI shopping answers read — identifiers, long descriptions, extra images, variant details, ratings — with the weakest checks and their fixes.
New Google feeds map the new attributes by default; an older feed gets them
with Add conversational attributes on its Mapping tab. Promotions link to products
through promotion_id — see Promotions. Every channel's fields are on
Channels.
Connecting
Sign in with Google, in three steps
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1 Add a Google account connection
Tick what FeedManager may read — Merchant Center, Google Analytics 4 or both — and click Sign in with Google. Google asks only for what you ticked.
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2 Allow Merchant Center access
Google's Merchant API has a single permission, which Google describes as managing your product listings. FeedManager only reads with it — unless you switch on instant price and stock updates for a feed, the one thing it writes.
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3 Add a Merchant Center source
Pick the account from the ones your Google user can already open, choose the field your products match on, and the source reads statuses daily — or when you click Read Statuses Now.
Your Google data stays yours
Access tokens are stored encrypted and revoked when you disconnect. Statuses, issues and numbers are used only to show them to you, to alert you and in your own rules — never for advertising, never sold and never used to train AI models. Read how FeedManager uses Google data and the Privacy Policy.
Merchant Center
Questions about Merchant Center
Why does FeedManager ask to "manage your product listings" in Google?
Google's Merchant API has only one permission, and Google's consent screen describes it as managing your product listings. FeedManager only reads with it — product statuses, issues, performance and price benchmarks, the account list and account issues — with one exception that you switch on for a feed: instant price and stock updates. You choose on the connection whether to grant it; Google Analytics-only connections are never asked for it.
Which plan do I need?
Pro or above, the same as Google Analytics 4 — for the statuses and for instant price and stock updates. A Merchant Center source doesn't count toward your plan's source limit.
How are Merchant Center products matched to mine?
On the id FeedManager's Google feeds send by default, or on the SKU, item group or GTIN if your Merchant Center products come from somewhere else. Shopify's Google channel ids are recognised. A run lists the first Merchant Center products it couldn't match, so you can check the choice.
How often are statuses read?
Daily by default, and whenever someone clicks Read Statuses Now. Each run reads the whole account; Google publishes no "changed since" filter for these reports.
Does FeedManager upload my products to Merchant Center?
No. Merchant Center keeps fetching your feed's address as before, and every product arrives with that file. The one thing FeedManager can send through Google's API is the price, sale price and availability of products Merchant Center already lists, when you switch on instant price and stock updates for a feed.
How fast do price and stock changes reach Google?
With instant price and stock updates on, a run starts 30 seconds after a sync, a store update or an API batch changed a product's price, sale price, availability or stock, and sends up to 1,000 changed products to Merchant Center. Each value is taken back once Google has read a feed file that holds it. Without the switch, changes reach Google when it next fetches the file.
What does FeedManager change in my Merchant Center account?
Nothing, unless you switch on instant price and stock updates. Then it adds one supplemental data source, puts it first in the default rule of the data source that reads your feed — everything already in the rule stays — and writes prices, sale prices and availability into it. Switching off removes the data source and restores the rule.
Can I see Merchant Center data from Microsoft or Meta?
No, this source reads Google Merchant Center only. Page Checks covers Google, Microsoft and Meta feeds alike, and every channel's build lists the products it left out and why.
Find out why Google turns products down
Connect Merchant Center on Pro or above, and fix each issue from the place it starts.
Private beta — accounts by invitation.