How to sell on Google Shopping: Merchant Center, free listings and the feed, step by step

What Google Shopping is, and what it isn't

Google Shopping is the product data you send to Google Merchant Center: one entry per product, with its title, description, image, price and availability. Google uses that data to show your products in its free listings and, if you pay for them, in Shopping ads. Google's free listings page says it doesn't guarantee your products will be shown, and that it relies on the data you provide to match them with what shoppers search for.

Everything after the click is yours. There is no Google checkout to set up, no Google storefront and no seller rating on Google for this. That is why the first requirement is a working store with real product pages, and why most of the work is in the feed's text.

• A marketplace (Etsy, eBay, Amazon): you list on its site, it takes the order and a fee per sale.
• Google Shopping: you list on Google, the order happens on your site, and Google's help describes no fee per sale.
• Where the products appear: Search, Images, Lens, YouTube, Gemini and the Shopping tab, by Google's free listings page.

Google Shopping SEO: the title, description and highlights in the feed → · Selling from BigCommerce: which field becomes which attribute →

Source: Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products (where they appear, no cost, purchase on your site), checked 1 November 2026

The setup, in the order Merchant Center asks for it

Google's help on setup issues lists what an account needs before its products can show in ads and free listings, and its free listings page adds shipping and returns. In the order you meet them:

Sources: Google Merchant Center Help: Setup issues (business name, website claim, product data, landing page, return policy), checked 1 November 2026 · Google Merchant Center Help: Set up your return policies for Shopping ads and free listings, checked 1 November 2026 · Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products (shipping and return information), checked 1 November 2026

The product data Google requires for every product

Google's product data specification marks seven attributes as required for all products. A few more depend on the product: brand for new products, except movies, books and musical recordings, a GTIN where the product has one, and condition for used or refurbished items. Your store app fills most of them from fields you already have; the title and description are the ones you write.

Check a title against Google's 150 characters and the 70 it shows →

Sources: Google Merchant Center Help: Product data specification (required attributes and limits), checked 1 November 2026 · Google Merchant Center Help: How to fix: Text too long (70 characters shown, 500 to 1,000 recommended), checked 1 November 2026

How much it costs to sell on Google Shopping

Free listings cost nothing: Google's free listings page says your products can appear at no cost on Google, and the purchase happens on your site. Google's help describes no fee on the sale itself. Shopping ads are optional and run through Google Ads, which charges only when someone clicks an ad. Google publishes no price per click, because it depends on your bids and your campaign.

What a sale actually costs you is set by the store you sell from: its plan, any fee it takes per order, and the payment processor's fee. On BigCommerce, for example, an order paid through an open payment provider pays a fee to BigCommerce on top of card processing since 1 June 2026.

BigCommerce fee calculator: the per-order fee since June 2026 → · Shopify fee calculator: what a Shopify order costs →

Sources: Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products (no cost), checked 1 November 2026 · Google Ads Help: About Shopping ads (charged only when someone clicks), checked 1 November 2026

Which store you sell from changes the setup, not the rules

Most stores reach Merchant Center through their platform's own Google app, which claims the website, builds the feed from your product fields and keeps it in sync. On BigCommerce that is usually Feedonomics Surface, a free app BigCommerce's help says lists up to 100,000 SKUs. Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and Squarespace have their own connectors.

The connector changes how the data gets there, not what Google accepts. Google's limits and exclusions apply to whatever the app sends, so a store description with shipping times or a size-guide link in it reaches Google with them. We haven't checked how each app sends structured_title and structured_description for AI-written text, so check yours.

BigCommerce to Google Shopping: the field mapping → · Shopify product SEO: the store page Google ranks →

Source: BigCommerce Help Center: Google Shopping (Feedonomics Surface, up to 100,000 SKUs), checked 1 November 2026

Write the two fields Google shows

Once the account is set up, the title and the description are what decide whether a shopper clicks. Google's title page says to use all 150 characters, and its text-too-long page says it shows up to 70, so name the product completely in the first 70. The description gets around 500 to 1,000 characters, key details in the first 160 to 500.

• Title: product type and the deciding detail first, specifications after. No price, sale, shipping or store name, and no capitals for emphasis.
• Description: only this product, plain text, no links or policies.
• Product highlights: 4 to 6 points of up to 150 characters, Google's recommendation.
• AI-written text: structured_title and structured_description, marked trained_algorithmic_media.

Google Shopping descriptions: what goes in the first 500 →

Source: Google Merchant Center Help: Title [title] and structured title (use all 150 characters; no promotional text), checked 1 November 2026

Approved, but not showing?

An approved product is eligible, not promised a place: Google's free listings page says the status doesn't guarantee your products will be shown. Before you look for a penalty, check the plain causes in Merchant Center.

• Needs attention: a disapproved or limited product is listed there, with the reason.
• The landing page: it has to match the product in the feed, by Google's setup page.
• The text: a title that names the product only after 70 characters, or a description of shipping terms, gives Google little to match a search to.
• Free listings switched off: they are on by default in most cases, but check the setting.

What Sellura does here, and what it doesn't

Describe the product once and Sellura writes the text the feed needs: a title inside Google's 150 characters with the product in the first 70, a plain-text description whose first 160 characters say what it is, 6 product highlights of up to 150 characters, and 8 search phrases to work into the text, which are ours since Google has no keyword field. Each generation comes with a 0–100 score that is deterministic: the same listing always gets the same number, and every weak factor comes with one fix written for that listing.

The score and the title preview are free on every generation, with no card, and so are the Google Shopping title checker and the Listing checker. A credit unlocks one finished listing: Starter is $15 a month for 25 credits or $150 a year, and Pro is $24 a month for 65 credits plus bulk, or $240 a year. Sellura doesn't create Merchant Center accounts, submit feeds, run Shopping ads, track rankings or keep a keyword research database.

Write the Google Shopping text, score and title free → · Plans and credits →