How to Optimise Your Google Product Feed (and Save Up to 20%)

If you’re running Google Ads for your online store and wondering why your products aren’t showing up, or your clicks aren’t converting, the problem might not be your ads. It might be your product feed.

Most e-commerce businesses we speak to come to us with one of two issues:

1. Their Google Ads aren’t performing.

They’re wasting budget on clicks that never convert.

In almost every case, we find the product feed is holding everything back.

So let’s break down what a product feed actually does, why it’s more important than you think, and how you can save up to 20% on your Shopping Ads just by switching to a different provider.

Save up to 20% on your Shopping Ads just by switching to a different provider

What Is a Product Feed?

Your Google Product Feed is a file that contains structured info about all the products you sell, like the product title, description, price, image, brand, stock status, and more.

It lives inside Google Merchant Center and powers your:

• • • Google Shopping ads
    • Performance Max campaigns
    • Dynamic remarketing ads

If the info in your feed is messy, vague, or incomplete, your ads will be too.

Why Your Feed Matters More Than You Think

A well-optimised product feed helps Google:

• • • • • Match your products to the right searches
        • Generate ads that look clean and clickable
        • Understand which products are actually relevant 

A bad feed, on the other hand:

• • • • • • • Triggers irrelevant impressions
            • Eats up budget on the wrong clicks
            • Gets disapproved or throttled for missing info

Imagine you are selling some Nike Shoes. If your product title is just “Cool Sneakers,” you’re probably losing out to someone who wrote “Nike Air Max 270 – Men’s Black Running Shoes – Size 10.” That second one will match far more searches (and convert better).

“Cool Sneakers” won’t compete with “Nike Air Max 270 – Men’s Running Shoes, Size 10

How to Optimise Your Product Feed (Without Losing Your Mind)

If you’re not technical, don’t worry. Here are a few practical things to check:

Product Titles: Be specific. Include brand, product type, key features (like size, colour, model).

Descriptions: Don’t keyword stuff, but do include the key benefits and specs.

Images: Use clear, professional photos with no watermarks or text overlays.

Prices and Stock: Make sure these stay up to date as Google will penalise mismatches.

Categories and Labels: Use Google’s predefined product categories. And use custom labels to tag things like “bestsellers” or “high-margin” products (super useful for campaign targeting).

Bonus tip: If your website’s product info isn’t perfect, tools like Feed Rules in the Merchant Center can help clean it up, or we can help you fix it properly.

Optimise your product feed with clear titles, accurate info, and quality images

Want to Lower Your CPCs by 20%?

Here’s something most people don’t know: if you’re in the UK or EU and you’re still using Google Shopping as your default feed provider… you’re leaving money on the table.

Since a big antitrust ruling in the EU, Google allows other companies to offer Comparison Shopping Services (CSS). And using one of these CSS partners can get you up to 20% cheaper clicks

That’s because Google doesn’t take the same internal fee when you use a third-party CSS. You’re basically getting more value from your budget without changing anything else.

Same campaigns, same products, same feed, just the same traffic but cheaper.

Save up to 20% on Google Shopping by using a third-party CSS

Final Thoughts

If you’re running ads with a poor product feed, it’s like running a race with your shoelaces tied together. Your budget is working harder than it should.

Before you tweak bids or rebuild your campaigns from scratch, check your foundation: your product feed.

And if you’re not sure how yours stacks up, let us take a look.