Product Feed Optimisation: Titles, Images and Attributes That Win Clicks

When shoppers search on Google, your products are matched and displayed using the data in your product feed, not just your website. A weak feed with vague titles and missing details limits where your products can appear, whether in free listings or paid Shopping ads. Optimising the feed is one of the highest-impact tasks for any online store selling through Google.

What is a product feed?

A product feed is a structured file or data connection listing every product you sell, with fields such as title, description, link, image, price, availability and identifiers. Google Merchant Center reads it to understand and display your products. Feeds can be generated automatically by your store, so improvements apply across the whole catalogue.

How do you write product titles that match searches?

Titles are the most influential feed field. Use a consistent pattern that front-loads the words shoppers search for:

Product type	Suggested title pattern
Appliances and equipment	Brand + Product type + Key spec + Model
Clothing	Brand + Gender + Product type + Material + Colour + Size
Furniture	Product type + Material + Size or seats + Colour
Electronics	Brand + Product line + Model + Capacity

For example, "Gas Cooker" becomes "6-Burner Commercial Gas Cooker with Oven, Stainless Steel". Avoid promotional text such as "Best price!" or "Free delivery" in titles.

What makes a good product image for Google?

• The product clearly shown, filling most of the frame.
• A plain, light background for the main image.
• No watermarks, logos, borders or promotional text.
• High resolution and the correct product variant.
• Lifestyle photos as additional images, not the main one.

Which attributes should you complete?

• brand for branded products.
• gtin (barcode number) where the product has one; mpn otherwise.
• condition: new, used or refurbished.
• colour, size, material for variant products.
• item_group_id to link variants of the same product.
• google_product_category and your own product_type.
• shipping and returns information where required.

Why do descriptions still matter?

Descriptions help Google understand the product and can match additional searches. Write helpful descriptions that cover use, specifications and what is included, in plain language. Keep them accurate and avoid comparisons or claims you cannot support.

What are custom labels used for?

Custom labels let you group products for campaign management, for example by margin (high, medium, low), season, best sellers or clearance. In Shopping campaigns, you can then bid more on high-margin best sellers and less on low-margin items.

How do you keep feed data accurate?

Price and availability mismatches are a leading cause of disapprovals. Generate the feed automatically from your store's database, schedule frequent updates or use the Content API for instant changes, and make sure sale prices and their dates are reflected correctly.

How do you test feed improvements?

1. Pick a group of products with many impressions but few clicks.
2. Improve their titles and main images.
3. Compare clicks and click-through rate over the following weeks.
4. Roll successful patterns out to similar products.

Common feed mistakes

• Titles that are just a model number or internal code.
• Main images with text overlays or watermarks.
• Missing GTINs for branded products that have them.
• Variants submitted as one product without colour or size.
• Feed updated less often than prices change.

Should you optimise the feed or the website first?

Both, but in a sensible order. Fix accuracy problems first, because a feed that disagrees with the website risks disapprovals. Then improve titles and images on your highest-traffic products, since those changes show results quickly. Finally, carry the improvements back to the product pages: a clearer title and better photo help shoppers who arrive from search just as much as those who see your listing on Google.

Example: optimising a furniture feed

A furniture store's feed lists products as "Sofa A12" with lifestyle photos. Rewriting titles as "3-Seater Fabric Sofa, Grey, Solid Wood Frame", using a clean main image, adding colour and material attributes and grouping variants gives Google far more to match against. The store also adds custom labels for margin, so its campaigns favour its most profitable pieces.

Get a better product feed

Our e-commerce team builds stores that generate optimised feeds automatically, and our SEO and AEO service handles ongoing feed and product page optimisation. Read also Merchant Center setup and product pages that sell.