6 feed mistakes costing you sales in Google Shopping
Malthe Weibeck Thomsen · Growth Hacker · Senior Pull Specialist · 8 July 2026 · 5 min.
01The six mistakes
In Shopping and Performance Max you don't bid on keywords — the feed decides which searches you show on. A weak feed puts a ceiling on the whole campaign, no matter how good the bid is. Here are six mistakes that cost visibility and sales:
- 1.Weak titles: the most important search terms (brand, type, attributes) aren't front-loaded, so you match fewer relevant searches.
- 2.Missing or wrong GTINs, which degrade Google's ability to match and show your products.
- 3.No custom labels for margin, so you can't bid differently on high- and low-margin products — profit control becomes impossible.
- 4.Price mismatches between feed and website, which get products disapproved in Merchant Center.
- 5.Poor or missing images, which lower click-through rate and thus the whole campaign's efficiency.
- 6.Wrong or missing product category and product type, which confuse Google's understanding of what you sell.
Sådan virker det
custom_label_0 → tROAS pr. margin-bucket → budgettet flyder mod profit
I Shopping og Performance Max er feedet dine “keywords”. Titler, produkttype og billede afgør, hvad du matcher på — og et custom_label med margin-bucket lader dig byde højere på de produkter, der faktisk tjener penge.
02The feed is half the campaign
It's easy to spend all your energy on bids and structure and forget that the feed is half of Shopping. An hour of feed work — better titles, correct GTINs, margin labels — can move more than a week of bid adjustments. We often maintain the feed via a feed manager like DataFeedWatch or Producthero, so the rules run automatically.
A clean feed is also the prerequisite for POAS control: without margin in custom labels, bidding can't distinguish between products that sell and products that earn. Feed work isn't dull, tedious maintenance — it's one of the most direct routes to more profitable Shopping.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the product feed so important in Google Shopping?+
Because the feed is your keywords — titles, attributes and category decide which searches you show on. A weak feed limits the whole campaign, no matter how well the bid is set.
What's the most important feed optimization?+
Strong, keyword-front-loaded titles and correct custom labels for margin. Titles decide what you match on; margin labels make POAS-driven bidding possible. Together they move the most.
Related terms
Glossary
What are custom labels?
Custom labels (custom_label_0 through 4) are optional fields in the product feed where you can tag products with your own criteria — for example margin, bestseller status, season or stock level.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is Google Merchant Center?
Google Merchant Center is the platform where you upload and manage your product feed, so products can appear in Shopping ads, Performance Max and free product listings.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is Standard Shopping?
Standard Shopping is a Google campaign type that shows product ads (image, price, store) based on your product feed, with more manual control than Performance Max.
Read the entry →Guide
POAS-driven bidding in Google Ads
Read the entry →Feed optimization and POAS-driven Shopping sit within our Google setup.
See Google Ads →
Malthe Weibeck Thomsen
Growth Hacker · Senior Pull Specialist at Oaksmond
Pull specialist with 8+ years' experience. Comes from the agency world and has since worked as an independent consultant for several of the country's largest brands.
Meet the team →