Your Google Shopping feed is a scoreboard. Every product gets rated on data quality, and the products with the best scores - combined with competitive bids - end up at the top.
We run a 152-point quality audit on every new account we onboard. Most brands score under 70 out of 152, which puts them in the POOR tier. They blame the algorithm, the market, or the platform. The real problem is sitting inside their Merchant Center feed.
This assessment pulls the 20 highest-impact checks from that 152-point system. These 20 checks alone account for roughly 60% of the total scoring weight. You can run them in 30 minutes with nothing more than your Merchant Center dashboard and a spreadsheet export of your feed.
Each check gets a PASS or FAIL. Your final score tells you exactly where you stand.
Scoring tiers:
| Score | Tier | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 18-20 | STRONG | Your feed is competitive. Focus on incremental gains. |
| 14-17 | MODERATE | Fixable gaps are costing you impressions and clicks. |
| 10-13 | WEAK | Significant problems are holding your Shopping performance back. |
| 0-9 | POOR | Your feed is actively working against you. Priority fixes needed. |
Brands scoring STRONG on these 20 checks typically have 3-4x higher impression share on target shopping queries compared to those scoring POOR. That's with the same budget and the same products - the only difference is feed quality.
Let's score your feed.
What you need:
How to export your feed:
Open the export in Google Sheets or Excel. You'll reference specific columns for each check below.
Your product title is the single most important element in your feed. Google parses titles first when matching products to search queries. A weak title means missed matches. Every missed match is a lost sale.
Open your feed export. Look at the title column.
PASS criteria: 80% or more of your titles are between 70-150 characters.
Google allows 150 characters, but only the first 70 display in most placements. Titles under 70 characters waste your most valuable real estate. Titles under 30 characters are almost invisible to the algorithm.
How to check: In a new column, use =LEN(title_cell). Filter for values between 70 and 150. Calculate the percentage.
Common failure: Shopify default titles average 40-60 characters. If you're running a default Shopify feed without title optimization, this check will likely fail.
Zone 1 is the first 70 characters of your title. This is what Google matches to search queries and what buyers see in most Shopping placements.
PASS criteria: 70% or more of your titles contain their primary search keyword within the first 70 characters.
How to check: For your top 20 products by revenue, pull the search terms report from Google Ads (Keywords > Search Terms). Identify the highest-impression query for each product. Check whether that query (or a close variant) appears within the first 70 characters of the product title.
Common failure: Titles that start with the brand name push the primary keyword into Zone 2 or Zone 3. "BrandName Premium Organic Cotton Baby Onesie" has the brand eating up Zone 1 space that should go to the search keyword.
Every product title in your feed should be distinct from every other title. Duplicate or near-duplicate titles force your own products to compete against each other.
PASS criteria: Zero exact-duplicate titles in the feed.
How to check: Sort your title column alphabetically. Scan for identical entries. Or use a COUNTIF formula: =COUNTIF(title_column, title_cell). Any value greater than 1 is a duplicate.
Titles should follow a consistent structure within each product category. The recommended format: Primary Keyword + Key Attributes (color, size, material) + Brand.
PASS criteria: 70% of titles within each product category follow the same structural pattern.
How to check: Pick your three largest product categories. Read 10 titles from each. Do they follow a consistent pattern, or does every title use a different word order and structure?
Google prohibits promotional text in product titles. "Free Shipping," "Sale," "Best Price," "Buy One Get One" - all of these risk disapproval and hurt quality score even when they don't trigger a formal rejection.
PASS criteria: Zero titles contain promotional language.
How to check: Search your title column for: "free," "sale," "discount," "deal," "offer," "best price," "cheap," "BOGO," "buy one," "limited time."
Attribute completeness is how Google determines ad relevance. Every empty field is a signal gap. Stores achieving 99%+ attribute completion see measurably higher impression share than those with sparse feeds.
Every product needs a minimum set of attributes to be eligible for Shopping ads.
PASS criteria: 100% of products have all required attributes populated: id, title, description, link, image_link, price, availability, brand.
How to check: In your feed export, check each required column for blank cells. Use =COUNTBLANK(column_range) on each.
For apparel and accessories, these three attributes are required. For all other categories, they're strongly recommended. Google uses them for filtering and matching.
PASS criteria: 90% of applicable products have color, size, and material populated.
How to check: Filter your feed to products where these attributes apply (apparel, footwear, accessories, home goods). Check the fill rate for each column.
Product type tells Google how to categorize your products. Shallow product types ("Clothing") give Google almost nothing to work with. Deep product types ("Clothing > Women's > Dresses > Maxi Dresses > Summer") give Google precise matching signals.
PASS criteria: 80% of product types have 3 or more levels of depth (using > separators).
How to check: Count the number of > separators in your product_type column. Formula: =LEN(cell)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(cell," > ",""))/3 + 1. Values of 3 or higher pass.
Google's product taxonomy has over 6,000 categories. Mapping to the most specific (leaf-level) category improves relevance scoring.
PASS criteria: 100% of products have a google_product_category assigned, and 80% are mapped to a leaf-level category (not a parent category).
How to check: Check for blank entries in the google_product_category column. Then spot-check 20 products - are they mapped to the most specific subcategory available, or are they sitting at a broad parent level?
Custom labels enable bid segmentation - the ability to set different bids for different product groups. Without them, all your products get the same bidding treatment regardless of margin, seasonality, or performance tier.
PASS criteria: At least 3 of 5 custom label fields (custom_label_0 through custom_label_4) are populated with meaningful values.
How to check: Check each custom label column. Are they populated? Do the values follow a logical system (price tiers, margin tiers, seasonality, inventory status, funnel layer)?
Images are the primary click-through-rate driver in Shopping ads. Once your feed data is solid, image quality determines whether shoppers click your ad or your competitor's.
Google requires a minimum of 100x100 pixels for non-apparel and 250x250 for apparel. But the functional minimum for competitive performance is much higher.
PASS criteria: 100% of primary images are at least 800x800 pixels. Recommended: 1500x1500.
How to check: If your feed management tool reports image dimensions, filter by size. Otherwise, spot-check 20 product images by downloading them and checking dimensions (right-click > Properties on Windows, Get Info on Mac).
Google's Shopping ad format works best with clean, uncluttered primary images. Watermarks, logos, promotional overlays, and busy backgrounds reduce CTR and can trigger disapprovals.
PASS criteria: 95% of primary product images have a white or clean neutral background, with no watermarks, no logos, and no promotional text overlaid.
How to check: Open your Merchant Center dashboard. Go to Products > All Products. Scroll through 30-50 listings visually. Flag any images with watermarks, logos, text overlays, or cluttered backgrounds.
Products with multiple images get higher engagement. Google allows up to 10 additional images via the additional_image_link attribute.
PASS criteria: 70% of products have at least 3 additional images.
How to check: Check the additional_image_link column in your feed. Count how many products have 3 or more entries.
Using the same image for multiple products is a quality signal problem. Google can detect identical images across different listings, and it reduces relevance scoring.
PASS criteria: Zero products share the same primary image_link URL (unless they are true variants of the same parent product).
How to check: Sort your image_link column and look for duplicates. Use =COUNTIF(image_column, image_cell) to flag any value appearing more than once. Exclude variant products that legitimately share a parent image.
The product shown in the image should match what the title describes. A title that says "Navy Blue Midi Dress" with an image showing a black maxi dress creates a relevance mismatch that hurts quality score and conversion rate.
PASS criteria: 95% of products show an image that matches the title's described color, style, and product type.
How to check: Spot-check 30 products. Compare the primary image to the title. Does the image show the correct product in the correct color/variant? This check is manual but critical.
GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers - UPC, EAN, ISBN) are one of the most undervalued feed attributes. Google uses GTINs to match your products against its product catalog, enable richer ad formats, and improve placement eligibility.
PASS criteria: 90% of manufactured products (not custom or handmade items) have valid GTINs populated.
How to check: Filter your feed to exclude custom or handmade products. Check the gtin column for blank entries. Calculate: (Products with GTIN / Total eligible products) x 100.
Why this matters: Products with valid GTINs are eligible for richer Shopping ad formats and typically see higher impression share. Google has stated that GTIN presence directly affects ranking eligibility.
Having a GTIN field populated isn't enough - the value needs to be a valid number. Invalid GTINs can trigger disapprovals.
PASS criteria: 100% of populated GTINs pass format validation (correct number of digits, valid check digit).
How to check: UPCs are 12 digits, EANs are 13 digits, ISBNs are 13 digits. Check that all populated GTIN values meet the correct digit count. In Merchant Center, go to Diagnostics > Item Issues and filter for GTIN-related warnings.
The identifier_exists attribute tells Google whether the product has a manufacturer-assigned identifier. Setting identifier_exists: true without providing the actual GTIN creates a mismatch that Google flags.
PASS criteria: Zero products have identifier_exists: true (or blank, which defaults to true) without a corresponding GTIN, MPN, or brand value.
How to check: Filter your feed for products where identifier_exists is TRUE or blank. Check that each of these products has either a gtin or mpn value populated. Any product claiming identifiers exist but not providing them is a mismatch.
These final checks cover the operational health of your feed - the mechanical issues that erode performance over time.
Disapproved products can't show ads. But a high disapproval rate also signals broader feed quality problems to Google, which can suppress even your approved products.
PASS criteria: Disapproval rate is under 5% of total products.
How to check: In Merchant Center, go to Products > Diagnostics. Look at the summary: how many products are disapproved vs. total products? Calculate: (Disapproved / Total) x 100.
Google crawls your landing pages and compares the price and availability shown on the page to what your feed reports. Mismatches trigger disapprovals and erode trust signals.
PASS criteria: Zero active products have a price mismatch between feed and landing page. Zero products are listed as "in stock" in the feed but show as out of stock on the site.
How to check: In Merchant Center, go to Diagnostics > Item Issues. Filter for "Price mismatch" and "Availability mismatch" errors. Alternatively, spot-check 20 products - click the landing page link from your feed and compare the displayed price and availability to your feed data.
Tally your results. Each check is worth 1 point.
| Section | Checks | Your Score |
|---|---|---|
| Title Quality | 1-5 | ___ / 5 |
| Attribute Completion | 6-10 | ___ / 5 |
| Image Standards | 11-15 | ___ / 5 |
| GTIN and Identifiers | 16-18 | ___ / 3 |
| Feed Health | 19-20 | ___ / 2 |
| Total | ___ / 20 |
18-20: STRONG Your feed foundations are solid. The gains from here are incremental - description depth, custom label sophistication, seasonal optimization. You're already outperforming 80% of Shopping advertisers on feed quality alone.
14-17: MODERATE You have the basics but gaps are costing you. Each failed check represents a specific area where competitors with better feeds are taking your impression share. Fix the failed checks in order: titles first, then attributes, then images, then GTINs.
10-13: WEAK Multiple areas need attention. You're likely leaving 30-50% of your potential Shopping impressions on the table. The good news: fixing feed quality at this level typically produces the largest performance jumps. We've seen accounts go from 12% to 40%+ impression share on target queries after moving from WEAK to MODERATE.
0-9: POOR Your feed is actively working against your Shopping performance. Budget increases won't help until the feed is fixed - you'd be amplifying bad data. Start with the failed checks in Section 1 (titles) and Section 2 (attributes). These are the foundation.
If you scored below 18, fix failures in this order:
Title length and Zone 1 keywords (Checks 1-2) - Highest impact per hour invested. Title changes affect every impression your product receives.
Required attributes and product categories (Checks 6, 8, 9) - These determine whether Google can match your products to the right queries at all.
GTIN coverage (Checks 16-18) - Unlocks richer ad formats and better placement eligibility. Often the fastest fix if you have manufacturer data available.
Image quality (Checks 11-12) - Directly affects CTR. Clean, high-resolution images on white backgrounds outperform cluttered alternatives by 2-3x on click-through rate.
Everything else - Custom labels, additional images, description quality. Important but lower priority than the items above.
This 20-point check covers the highest-impact items, but the full 152-point system goes deeper. Areas not covered here include:
The Google Ads AI Agentic System ($4,997+) covers all 152 points plus the complete Zone Architecture system, anti-templating protocols, and the ongoing optimization cadence that prevents feed drift.
This assessment is extracted from the Google Ads AI Agentic System, our complete system for Google Shopping feed optimization built on $120M+ in Shopping spend across 20+ brands.