How to Create a Supplemental Feed in 9 Minutes | Google Ads

In this blog post, I’ll share the exact process I use for each of our e-commerce clients to create a supplemental feed and optimize their performance in Google Merchant Center. Many people running Google Ads for e-commerce tend to overlook the Merchant Center because it can be confusing. But once you understand it, it becomes incredibly simple.

Here’s how I create a supplemental feed, step by step:

Review Diagnostics Tab

The first thing you should do is check the Diagnostics tab in your Google Merchant Center. This will show you any amber or red warnings that Google has flagged. Addressing these issues is key to improving performance with your supplemental feed.

For this client, the Merchant Center feed is already in good shape, so we don't have any issues to fix. Now, we move on to the next step.

Filter Products by Clicks

Navigate to the All Products section and filter the products by Clicks. This brings your most popular products to the top, allowing you to prioritize optimizing them. I can’t see conversions or ROAS directly in this view, but clicks often indicate high-performing products.

Download Product Data as TSV

Next, download your product data. Instead of downloading a CSV file, download it as a TSV file (Tab-Separated Values). You’ll use this file to upload it to Google Sheets for further work.

Upload to Google Sheets

Now, open Google Sheets and create a new sheet. Import your downloaded TSV file by selecting File> Import > Upload. Once your data is in Google Sheets, you’ll see a large table of all your product details.

Simplify Your Data

To make things easier, start by removing any unnecessary columns that won't be part of your supplemental feed. I recommend bolding and freezing the header row and the first column (which contains the product IDs). You’ll use the ID as your anchor point when uploading the supplemental feed.

For this particular client, I want to optimize two main things:

1. Product Titles
2. Google Product Categories

The client sells children’s apparel, and I noticed that their Google product categories are too generic (e.g., "Clothing"). I want to specify these as “Jackets and Coats” or “Shirts and Tops.”

Optimize Your Data

After simplifying the columns, update the relevant attributes. In this case, I’ve already optimized the product titles and specified more accurate Google product categories.

Upload the Supplemental Feed to the Google Merchant Center

Go back to your Google Merchant Center and head to Feeds on the left-hand side. Click on Add a Supplemental Feed and select Google Sheets as the upload method. Name the feed appropriately for good housekeeping.

Since we exported our data from the Merchant Center, we don’t need to create a template—just select the existing sheet and continue.

Fetch the Feed

After selecting your Google Sheet, click Fetch Now to ensure the feed is processed correctly. Google won’t automatically notify you about this step, so don’t forget it!

Once processed, you should see that the feed matches the correct items.

Enable Feed Scheduling

One last important step: enable the schedule for your supplemental feed. You want Google Merchant Center to fetch this feed daily to keep it updated. Go to the feed settings and set the schedule to a time that works for you (for example, before your workday starts).

Verify the Update

To confirm everything is working correctly, copy the ID of a product you updated, then filter your products by this ID. Check that the product categories or titles have been updated successfully. In this case, I can see that the Google product category is now "Coats and Jackets," which means the upload worked!

Conclusion

Feel free to reach out if you’re running your own store and want to improve your performance in Google Ads or Merchant Center. Click here for schedule a call with us. We’d be happy to help boost your results on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or any other platform you use for your e-commerce store.