Google Shopping for a Shopify store starts with Google’s free Google & YouTube app. Install it, connect a Merchant Center account, and it copies your products across to Google and keeps them in step with your shop. The set-up itself is an afternoon.
Getting approved can take longer.
Shopify’s own list of set-up problems reads like a tour of your Shopify admin, from the footer menu to the shipping profile and the barcode field on each variant. For an Irish shop, add VAT-inclusive prices in euro and delivery rates Google can read.
Get those right and your products can show in Google’s free listings in Ireland without you paying a cent. Shopping ads are the paid layer on top, built from the same product data.
Is Shopify linked to Google?
Yes, through one app, and it’s Google’s own. Shopify’s help centre says the channel “is managed by Google”, and the App Store lists the developer as Google LLC.
It’s free to install. If you run ads through it, the spend goes on your Google Ads account at the daily budget you set.
The app connects three Google accounts. You choose which ones.
| Google account | What it does for your shop | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant Center | Receives your products and keeps them matched to Shopify | Yes, for free listings or Shopping ads |
| Google Ads | Runs paid campaigns and counts your sales as conversions | Only if you pay for ads |
| Google Analytics 4 | Reports on visits and sales in your shop | Optional, and it works without Merchant Center |
Know who to ring when something breaks. Shopify Support will help you install the app and set up products in Shopify. For problems with your Merchant Center account, Google Ads, suspensions or ad approvals, Shopify’s answer is “you need to contact Google directly”.
How to set up Google Shopping on Shopify
Setting up Google Merchant Center for Shopify happens inside the app. If you don’t have an account yet, you create one from there. Shopify’s set-up page for the Google & YouTube channel has every screen, and here’s the route.
- Install the Google & YouTube app from the Shopify App Store. It then sits in your Shopify admin under Sales channels.
- Connect a Google Account. Use one the business will keep. It has to be an administrator on any Merchant Center or Google Ads account you want to connect.
- Work through the requirements checklist. The app lists what your shop is missing, with a link to the Shopify page where each one gets fixed.
- Choose or create your Merchant Center account, then prove you own it with a six-digit code sent to your phone by text.
- Pick your countries. By default the app syncs the countries in your Shopify Markets. You can switch that off and choose them yourself.
- Decide how delivery reaches Google. Import your Shopify rates automatically, or set them up by hand in Merchant Center.
- Choose your titles and descriptions. Send your product titles as they are, or send your search engine listing titles instead.
Then wait. Shopify says the first sync can take up to 24 hours, and Google reviews new products within three to five working days. After that, a change you make in Shopify usually reaches Google within a few hours.
Your domain is claimed for you as you connect, unless another Merchant Center account got there first. The rest of Merchant Center, from business details to returns, is in our walk-through of how to set up Google Merchant Center.
What if you already have a Merchant Center account?
Shopify’s channel requirements warn that “If you already have a product feed set up, then it’s overwritten”. A feed you built by hand, or through another app, gets replaced.
From then on, Shopify wins every argument. Google’s page for Shopify users says your Shopify information “will always overwrite the information in your Merchant Center account, so any updates or other changes should be made in your Shopify account only.”
Three more catches. One Merchant Center account connects to one Shopify store at a time, and a multi-client account can’t be connected directly at all.
And if a different Merchant Center account has already claimed your domain, the app offers to move the claim. Shopify says the transfer “can’t be undone”, and any feeds on the old account that link to your domain are disapproved automatically.
What the app sends from Shopify to Merchant Center
Most of what Google needs already lives somewhere in your Shopify admin. This is where the app finds each piece.
| What Google needs | Where it comes from in Shopify |
|---|---|
| Title and description | The product’s own, or its search engine listing title and meta description if you choose that in the app |
| Price | The product’s price, which for Ireland has to include VAT |
| Image | The product’s media, with at least one image |
| GTIN | The Barcode field on each variant |
| Brand and MPN | Fields in the Google & YouTube app, for products with no barcode |
| Delivery costs | Rates in your general shipping profile, or set by hand in Merchant Center |
| Promotions | Discounts you make available to the Google & YouTube channel |
| Countries | Your Shopify Markets, or the countries you pick in the app |
| Return policy | Set in Merchant Center as well as in Shopify |
What your Shopify store needs before Google approves it
Shopify’s checklist sets the minimum. Your online store has to be:
- Open to the public. In Shopify’s words, “your store can’t be in private mode.”
- Taking payment through a valid payment provider in your Shopify admin.
- Showing a refund policy and terms of service in the footer menu. Write them in Settings, then Policies, and add them to the footer with the Policies link type. A policy built as an ordinary page, or linked as a custom link, can leave the checklist stuck.
- Showing at least one way to contact you, such as a phone number, an email address, a postal address or a contact form.
- Selling in the currency of the country you ship to. For Ireland, that’s euro.
The contact item needs care. The app can’t see your contact details, so it asks you to tick a box saying they’re there. Shopify’s warning is blunt: “If you confirm requirements that aren’t actually met, then Google can suspend your Merchant Center account.”
Passing Shopify’s checklist isn’t passing Google’s review. Google checks the whole site for misrepresentation, and wants the business name, address, phone and email on your site to match Merchant Center. Our Merchant Center set-up piece lists what Google’s own checklist asks for, down to the VAT number in your footer.
Do Google Shopping prices on Shopify include VAT?
They have to. Ireland is on Google’s list of countries where the price you send includes VAT, and that price has to match your product page and your checkout.
In Shopify it’s one setting. Go to Settings, then Taxes and duties, and select “Include sales tax in product price and shipping rate”. Shopify also says to leave “Charge tax on this product” ticked on each product, so the VAT stays inside the price customers see.
Then test one product. The price on the product page, in the basket and at checkout should be the same number, in euro.
If your Irish customers already see VAT-inclusive prices, you’re done here. The trouble starts when you add a second country.
Why your Shopify delivery rates won’t sync to Google
Google needs delivery costs before it will show your products in Ireland. Shopify’s rules for getting them there are strict.
The main one is in a note on Shopify’s requirements page: “Only shipping rates in your General shipping profile can sync to Google Merchant Center. If you use custom shipping profiles, then rates will sync incorrectly with Google Merchant Center and cause errors.”
| Your delivery set-up in Shopify | Will it import? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Flat rates in the general shipping profile, with an Ireland zone | Yes | Choose automatic import. Any change you make later re-imports by itself. |
| Rates in a custom shipping profile, such as one for bulky items | Not correctly | Move the rates into the general profile, or set delivery by hand in Merchant Center |
| Carrier-calculated rates | Not from Ireland. The app supports them only for certain carriers in Australia, Germany and the United States. | Use custom flat rates for Google |
| Rates worked out by a third-party delivery app | Not automatically | Check they reached Merchant Center. If not, set delivery by hand. |
| No zone for the country you’re targeting | No | Add the zone to the general profile first |
If you set delivery by hand, switch the app’s shipping settings to manual first, as Shopify’s instructions say. Google’s advice for Shopify shops is that the costs “must match the costs that you charge on your Shopify shop. If you can’t match the cost exactly, overestimate the figures”.
Delivery times travel too. If your flat rates carry a transit time, Google uses it. If not, Shopify says Google falls back on typical times for your region, and your handling time defaults to “the average handling time for Shopify merchants”. Put your own transit times on your rates, and the delivery date shoppers see is yours rather than an average.
Returns are a separate job. Google tells Shopify users to set a return policy up in both places, in Shopify and in Merchant Center under Delivery and returns.
How to add GTINs and barcodes on Shopify
A GTIN is the number under a product’s barcode. In Europe it’s usually a 13-digit EAN. Google uses it to match your product with the same item sold elsewhere.
Shopify spells out the stakes. “If these identifiers aren’t correct, then Google doesn’t publish your products and your account could be suspended.”
On Shopify, the GTIN goes in the Barcode field, in the Inventory section of the product. If the product has variants, each colour and size has its own number and its own field.
Three mistakes to avoid.
- Your SKU in the barcode field. Google’s guidance on unique product identifiers rules out “internal SKUs or other values specific to your shop”.
- A number in the wrong range. Google refuses GTINs in the restricted ranges beginning 02, 04 or 2, and the coupon ranges beginning 05, 98 or 99.
- A guess. Google’s line is “When in doubt, don’t provide a GTIN”. A missing GTIN may limit how often a product shows. A wrong one can get it refused.
What if your products don’t have barcodes?
Plenty of Irish shops sell things no manufacturer ever numbered. Their own brand, handmade goods, prints, candles they pour themselves.
Leave the GTIN empty. In the Google & YouTube app, tick “This is a custom product” for anything with no GTIN or MPN. If you’d rather give Google an identifier, its guidance for makers with no official brand is to use your shop name as the brand, with an MPN of your own choosing.
Branded stock you buy in is different. Google describes the GTIN as the number “usually associated with a barcode printed on retail merchandise”, so start with the packaging.
Do you need to set a Google product category?
Less than you used to. Google now puts every product in a category itself, and its help page on the Google product category treats the field as optional, an override for when it gets things wrong. Shopify’s channel requirements still say you should add one, because without it you might see errors, so where Google files a product somewhere odd, set it.
Clothing is where that matters, because Google asks extra questions of anything it files under Clothing and accessories. If it files one of your products there by mistake, set the category yourself and the extra requirements go away.
Shopify’s own product category helps as well. Shopify says its categories make it easier to sell on channels “such as Facebook or Google”, and its clothing categories come with fields for size, age group, target gender and colour. Those are the details Google asks clothing for.
How Shopify variants show on Google Shopping
Google treats every variant as a product of its own. A jumper in three sizes and three colours counts as nine products, tied together by an item group ID so they show as one.
That has knock-on effects for a Shopify shop.
- The page must match the variant. Google wants the title, price, colour, availability and image on the landing page to match what you sent for that variant.
- Option names go in English. Shopify says “Product options, including variants, need to be in English to sync with Google”, so a shop selling through Irish still names its options Size and Colour.
- Big ranges hit a ceiling. How many variants Google will take depends on your Merchant Center account type. Google’s help has a route to ask for a higher limit.
Clothing brings a list of its own. For free listings anywhere, Google wants age group, gender, colour and size on clothing. For Shopping ads, it demands them only in six countries: Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Ireland isn’t on that list. The UK is.
Selling to the UK from an Irish Shopify store
The UK is its own country in Merchant Center, and the app picks it up from Shopify Markets. Google’s page for Shopify users says to “Ensure that your Shopify markets are enabled and have general delivery rates configured for these locations”.
So a UK market needs three things before it syncs cleanly.
- The UK switched on in the app’s countries and languages, or left on automatic sync.
- A UK zone with rates in your general shipping profile.
- Prices a UK shopper can pay. Shopify’s requirements say you sell in a currency that matches the country, and Google treats UK prices like Irish ones, VAT included.
Watch the VAT setting here. Shopify can build each country’s own VAT into its prices, but its help centre says product pages and the cart only show a first-time visitor the adjusted price if you sell in several currencies through Shopify Payments.
Google compares the product page with the checkout. A page showing one price and a checkout charging another is exactly what it disapproves.
Here’s how the rules compare.
| What Google asks for | Shopping ads in Ireland | Shopping ads in the UK | Free listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age group, gender, colour and size on clothing | Not required | Required | Required |
| Item group ID on every variant | Not required | Required | Required |
| Prices including VAT | Required | Required | Required |
One last check when you add the UK. Google warns that turning on more countries “may also affect applicable Google Ads campaigns”, so look at your campaign location settings the same day.
The Shopify errors that stop Google approving your products
The app marks every product Approved, Limited, Under review or Not approved. Open a product in Shopify and its Sales channels section shows what Google objected to.
These are the common ones in Shopify’s troubleshooting notes, and where each gets fixed.
| The error | What it means | The fix in Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Missing description | The product has no description | Write one in the product’s Description field |
| Missing image | The product has no photo | Add at least one image under Media |
| Unavailable landing page | The product isn’t available to both sales channels | Tick Online Store and Google & YouTube under the product’s Sales channels |
| Missing GTIN or MPN | No product identifier | Add the barcode under Inventory, or a brand and MPN in the app |
| Promotional overlay on image | Text, a logo, a watermark or a badge on the photo | Swap in a clean product image |
| Title in capitals | A title written like “GREEN SHIRT” | Change it to “Green shirt” |
| Merchant Center account missing from the list | Your email isn’t an admin on it, or it’s a multi-client account | Make your email an Admin under Account access in Merchant Center, then give it about ten minutes |
| Domain verification error | Your domain isn’t verified and claimed in Merchant Center | Add the main domain, not the www version. If that fails, paste Google’s HTML tag just below the opening head tag in theme.liquid |
| Phone verification fails | The number doesn’t match your store details, or you’ve tried too often | Use the number in Settings, then Store details. You get five tries in any four hours. |
Two habits save a lot of grief.
First, look at the app after big changes. Shopify warns that editing a product in Shopify “can cause successfully synced products to have errors”, so check after a sale, a new range or a bulk edit.
Second, ask for the review yourself. If Google warns or suspends the account, fixing the problem “doesn’t automatically trigger a re-review”, and Shopify says a review can take up to seven days. The usual account-level reasons are a missing refund policy, too little contact information and misrepresentation.
How to optimise your Shopify store for Google Shopping
Shopping ads don’t run on keywords. Google matches searches to your product data, so your titles and descriptions do the job keywords do everywhere else. Shopify gives you a few levers of its own.
- Choose which title Google gets. The app can send your search engine listing title and meta description in place of the product’s own. Google’s syncing page for Shopify says that lets you “include more keywords” without changing what your shop shows. Handy if your products carry names like “The Kinsale” that nobody searches for.
- Let your discounts travel. Percentage, fixed-amount and automatic discounts made in Shopify can sync to Google as promotions. Pick which under Sales channel access on each discount.
- Give delivery real numbers. Products with free delivery can show a “Free delivery” note on Google, and fast delivery can be flagged too.
- Fill in the product type. Google’s advice to Shopify shops is a product type “up to at least three levels”, from broad to specific.
- Go after the Top Quality Store badge. Google’s Shopping experience scorecard can award it, along with more prominent placement on the Shopping tab. Google names clear delivery costs and a clear return policy among the things that help.
The same words help your product pages rank in the ordinary results. That’s why our Shopify SEO checklist spends so long on product titles.
Shopping ads from Shopify, Performance Max or Standard Shopping?
Once your products are approved, the app can start ads for you. Its campaign button builds a Performance Max campaign. You link or create a Google Ads account, set up billing in Merchant Center, and give it a daily budget and a name.
Google says that when you do, conversion tracking “is automatically set up for your shop”. It’s the quickest route there is. For a new shop, it isn’t the one we’d take first.
Performance Max bids automatically and learns from your sales. A shop making a handful a month gives it little to go on. Standard Shopping lets you set what you’ll pay per click, product group by product group, and keep your products away from the wrong searches with negative keywords. The trade-off is set out in full in Google Shopping ads in Ireland.
You lose nothing by starting there. The products the app syncs sit in the same Merchant Center account, and once it’s linked to Google Ads, a Standard Shopping campaign draws on them the same way.
Whichever you pick, run the sum first. What decides whether Shopping ads pay is what a sale leaves you after the clicks it took, and we work that out in are Google Ads worth it. Take Shopify’s card fee off your margin before you start. Our breakdown of Shopify pricing in Ireland gives the fee on each plan.
How to track Shopify sales in Google Ads
Through the app. Google recommends it for all Google measurement on Shopify, “including Google Ads conversions and Google Analytics”.
Google is plain about the alternatives. Shopify’s new checkout puts “limitations” on Google Tag Manager, and Google tags run through a Shopify custom pixel are “not a supported feature”. Tags pasted into the old checkout scripts stop measuring once the thank you page is upgraded.
If your tracking still runs any of those ways, move it into the app before you spend. Automated bidding can only learn from the sales it’s told about.
Do you need a paid Google Shopping feed app?
For most small Irish shops, no. The Google & YouTube app is free, it’s Google’s own, and it handles the sync, delivery, promotions and tracking.
Paid feed apps earn their fee in narrower cases, such as sending the same product data to Microsoft Advertising and Meta from one place. For a single Google feed, you’d be paying for what Google gives away.
If you do switch, pick one source for your products. The Google app has a manual sync setting, and Google says that with it on, “We won’t automatically sync your Shopify products to Merchant Center.” Turn that on before the other app starts sending.
Questions people ask about Google Shopping on Shopify
Is Google Merchant Center free for Shopify stores?
Yes. Merchant Center costs nothing, and neither does the Google & YouTube app. Products the app syncs can show across Google free of charge, and Google’s page for Shopify users lists Ireland among the countries where free listings run. You only pay if you choose to run ads.
How long does it take for Shopify products to show on Google Shopping?
The first sync takes up to 24 hours, and Google reviews new products within three to five working days. Even then, Google says a shop new to selling online may wait a while before its products appear in results. Changes after that usually sync within a few hours.
Why are my Shopify products not showing on Google Shopping?
Check four things, in this order. The product’s status in the app, and the error beside it. Any warning or suspension on the account, shown in the app’s settings. Google’s Shopping policies. And the extra details some categories need, such as clothing.
If you set up Merchant Center outside Shopify, check free listings are switched on too. Accounts created through the app are opted in automatically. Others need confirming in Merchant Center.
Do I need Google Ads to use Google Shopping on Shopify?
No. Merchant Center on its own gets your products into free listings, and Shopify’s set-up page confirms you can connect only the accounts you want. Our piece on how to list your products on Google Shopping for free covers that route.
Can I connect two Shopify stores to one Merchant Center account?
No. Shopify says each Merchant Center account can connect to one Shopify store at a time. A second shop needs its own account.
What happens to my products if Merchant Center is suspended?
They stop showing on Google. Fix whatever caused it, then request a review. Suspensions are Google’s to lift, so Shopify Support will send you to Google for this one.
What does Google Shopping do?
It shows your products to people searching for something to buy, with a photo, a price and your shop’s name, so they see all three before they click. Free listings and paid Shopping ads both run on the product data your Shopify shop sends.
If you’d like your shop checked before Google looks
You can do every step yourself. The part that costs time is finding out, one rejection at a time, which Shopify setting Google didn’t like.
Send us your shop’s web address and the countries you sell to. We’ll check your policies, delivery profiles, barcodes and prices against Shopify’s requirements and Google’s, and tell you what to fix before you connect. Sometimes the answer is nothing.
We’re a Shopify Partner and a Google Partner, and we build Shopify shops as well as run the ads on them. Our Google Ads team sets up Merchant Center and your Shopping campaigns in your own business name, and management starts at €450 a month plus VAT. If you’re still choosing a platform, we’ve set out why so many Irish businesses choose Shopify.
