The Feed Readiness Checklist

• Shipping weight populated per SKU, not left to a shipping-class default. A bad answer is a blank weight field on any product heavier or lighter than the account's average, because the shopper sees one number in the ad and a different one at checkout.
• Account-level shipping settings in Merchant Center match any per-product overrides in the feed. A bad answer is a settings-level flat rate that contradicts a per-product override nobody remembers setting.
• Package dimensions populated for oversized or irregular items where a carrier bills on dimensional weight rather than actual weight. A bad answer is a heavy-but-compact or light-but-bulky item priced as if only actual weight applied.
• The free-shipping threshold shown in the feed matches what the cart honors at checkout. A bad answer is a threshold promised in a promotion that checkout doesn't apply, which turns a trust signal into a complaint.

• GTIN present and correct, matching the manufacturer's real identifier rather than a placeholder entered to satisfy a required field. A bad answer is a GTIN that fails a manufacturer lookup.
• The GTIN-exempt flag applied only where the category qualifies for the exemption. A bad answer is the flag applied broadly to skip data entry rather than because the category requires it.
• MPN and brand populated wherever GTIN doesn't exist for the category. A bad answer is all three identifier fields left blank, which reads to the platform as an unidentified product.
• identifier_exists set to false only on products with no real identifier to report. A bad answer is the field set to false out of convenience on products that do have one, which suppresses matching the feed would otherwise win.

• Product highlights populated with short, specific attribute lines rather than left blank. A bad answer is an empty highlights field on a product with real differentiators to state.
• Structured attributes (material, use case, compatibility, size) populated in their own fields rather than buried only inside a paragraph of description copy. A bad answer is a spec that exists nowhere except mid-sentence in a block of marketing copy.
• Descriptions written to answer the buyer's likely follow-up question (what it's compatible with, what else they'd need) rather than written only for keyword coverage. A bad answer is a description that reads well for search and answers nothing a buyer would ask next.
• Sizing, fit, and compatibility guidance available somewhere the feed or the linked page surfaces it. A bad answer is that guidance living only in a customer-service macro nobody's fed back into the product data.

• custom_label_0 through custom_label_4 populated on active SKUs using one consistent convention (brand isolation, margin tier, seasonality, performance tier, and a reserved ad-hoc flag), not left blank as an afterthought.
• Label population measured with a count against the full feed export, not eyeballed on a handful of products. A bad answer is any label blank on more than a fifth of live inventory.
• Labels checked against the listing filters that consume them. A bad answer is a typo in a label value that quietly drops a product out of every asset group's filter.
• Label refresh tied to a calendar (weekly for performance tier, seasonal for the seasonality flag), not set once at feed launch and forgotten.

• Currency declared in the feed matches the currency the checkout charges, per country. A bad answer is a feed declaring one currency while the storefront checks out in another for the same market.
• A distinct feed or supplemental feed exists per ship-to country rather than one feed serving every market. A bad answer is a single feed with no per-country segmentation covering markets with different pricing or availability.
• Price and availability reflect real per-country stock rather than a single global number. A bad answer is a product shown as available in a market where it can't be fulfilled.
• Local-market disclosures (tax treatment, import duties where relevant) handled one destination at a time rather than copied from the home market.

What breaks when the field sits empty

The ten-minute weekly diagnostics routine

1. 01

   Open Diagnostics first

   Check the item issues count against last week's number. A rising count on a catalog that hasn't changed size is the earliest signal something upstream broke.

2. 02

   Scan the top three disapproval reasons

   Confirm they're the same three as last week and shrinking, not a new reason that appeared overnight. A new top reason usually traces back to a platform or theme update that touched the feed export.

3. 03

   Spot-check five SKUs against the checklist above

   Rotate which five each week so the full catalog cycles through a manual check roughly every quarter, on top of whatever the automated feed rules are catching.

4. 04

   Log the approved-item count, not the feeling that things look fine

   A trend line catches slow decay that a single glance at Diagnostics won't. Ten minutes a week is cheap insurance against a multi-day suspension nobody noticed forming.

External resources

Authoritative references we link to alongside the template. Read them before running the audit.

• Google Merchant Center, product data specificationThe authoritative reference for every field in this checklist.
• Google Merchant Center, custom labelsSpec for the five custom_label fields covered in section 4.
• Google Merchant Center, item disapprovalsReference list for the disapproval reasons the weekly routine watches.
• Google Merchant Center, product ratingsHow reviews aggregate into the feed alongside the fields audited here.
• Google Skillshop, Shopping ads certificationFree training that reinforces the feed-first model this checklist assumes.