You sell hundreds or thousands of products, you send them to Google Shopping via Channable, and in the category step you get stuck. Does every product really need its own Google category? And why is the Merchant Center, the place where Google checks your product feed, full of notifications? The short answer: not one at a time. But there are places where it does matter.
Should every product have a Google category?
No. Google calls the product category an optional feature. If you don’t provide it, Google will choose a category from its own classification system. To do this, Google looks at your title and description, as well as your price, brand, and GTIN, the manufacturer’s barcode.
That also means: the clearer your product data is, the better Google will do itself. If your title is vague, your product could end up in a too general category.
When the category does count
According to Google, adding a category makes sense in three cases: when a category requires additional characteristics; when you want to target your product categories in Google Ads; and when it comes to alcohol.
For a webshop, the second most important thing is this. If you want to target your campaigns by product group, you need an organization that works.
Where the objections really come from
If products are listed in red in Merchant Center, first check for missing or incorrect values. Missing categories are not a problem; they are optional. A missing or incorrect GTIN can make your product less visible. Without a unique product ID, a product may not be suitable for all parts of Shopping. And for clothing and accessories, Google requires additional features, such as age groups.
You cannot solve such problems by categorizing them. You solve them by filling in the missing values, and with a large assortment you do that using rules.
Four ways to categorize in Channable
In the category step of a feed, Channable gives you four ways to categorize products. Products that don’t yet fall into any category can be found in the Uncategorized items tab.
- AI product categorization, which uses a learning algorithm to assign your products to a category
- Add categories manually
- generate categories from a custom category field in your product data
- Copy categories from another feed for the same channel
Rules do the job, even for new products
We do this by using rules. A rule looks at the title, the product type or the brand and, based on that, assigns the correct Google category. If a new product is added, it will automatically appear in the correct place.
We do the same with the warnings. We add missing GTINs or EANs, shipping costs, and colors and sizes in bulk instead of per product.
Channable can do all of this. The work lies in rules that fit the way your assortment is organized, and that’s where the specialist work comes in.
Let us check your feed
If you have products listed in red in your Merchant Center, request the free Google Shopping Feed Check. We resolve the feed issues in Channable so that your products can be included in your campaigns again.
This is how you give us access. Only the owner of the Channable account, with the role Owner, can do that.
- Step 1. We will send you a link. Open it, choose your company and click on Grant access.
- Step 2. Go to Company settings, Agency details. In Managing agency (partner code), enter our partner code: TRIENEKENS_NL892
If you advertise with Shopping, then read this too our article about Google Shopping in the search results. If you can’t find it using your feed, we’d be happy to help you out.
