NIGHTMARE syncing Shopify products with Google Merchant Centre

Shopify Apps
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1

Having an absolute nightmare syncing my Shopify products to Google Merchant Centre with the Google & Youtube App.
Have roughly 5,000 products on Shopify but after installing the app, only 2,400 items will sync across to merchant centre.
All my products are active on Shopify.
All are in stock.
I cannot see ANY differences between the products that will sync and the products that wont. Only the descriptions are different.
I’ve uninstalled the google app and reinstalled (several times) Still only 2400 products.

Just to make it clear, the products are not going over to merchant centre with errors. They are just not going over at all. I’m at my wits end with this.
I’ve tried waiting several days to see if more get sync’d across. They don’t.

2

You can try searching the forum. I’m sure there are many posts about this.

4

The google and youtube app is pretty bugged, these issues happen often. However, the solution is to uninstall and re-install the app, then wait 48 hours.

Or use a more professional tool like multifeeds: Multifeed Google Shopping Feed - Google Shopping feed, Facebook,... feeds & conversion tracking | Shopify App Store

5

emily_studio’s suggestion is a good starting point. The bulk edit column can show what’s being filtered before submission.

The fact that reinstalling the app multiple times didn’t change the count actually tells you something useful: this isn’t a sync glitch or a stuck cache. If it were, a fresh install would reset it. The number staying locked at 2,400 points to a filter or eligibility rule that persists regardless of the app state.

I ran into something similar recently where GMC was showing fewer products than expected, no errors, and the count stayed stuck. Turned out GMC had two data sources running: Content API from the Google & YouTube app AND “Found by Google” from Google’s crawler. The product counts were confusing because both sources were pulling the same products but with different ID formats, so GMC was double-counting some and missing others entirely.

Worth checking GMC → Settings → Data Sources to see if you have one source or two:

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If there’s both a Content API feed and a “Found by Google” feed, that’s often where the confusion starts.

A few other things that commonly cause this kind of silent filtering:

Products published to Online Store but not to the Google & YouTube sales channel. In Shopify Admin go to Products, click More filters, then in the Availability section look for products unavailable on Google & YouTube.

Missing required attributes at the variant level. Products without a GTIN need an MPN and brand, or need to be marked as a custom product. Missing these won’t throw errors in GMC but will block sync from the Shopify side.

Market availability if you’re using Shopify Markets. Products need to be available in the target market matching your GMC feed label, with shipping rates configured for that location.

What does GMC show under Settings → Data Sources? Specifically how many sources and what the product counts are for each. That usually reveals whether this is Shopify-side filtering or GMC configuration.

6

if you read the app store reviews of the official sales channel app (google and youtube) you will find many merchants facing the same issues.

which is why, if okay, go with a third-party data feed solution like adnabu.

8

Because the count stays around 2,400 even after reinstalling the Google & YouTube app, I would not treat this as a simple stuck sync first. I would try to find which group of products is being filtered before or during submission.

A practical way to narrow it down:

1. Export a small sample of products that sync and products that do not sync, then compare variant-level fields: SKU, vendor/brand, barcode/GTIN, MPN, custom product / identifier status, product type, and Google channel availability.

2. In Shopify, filter products that are active on the Online Store but not available on the Google & YouTube sales channel.

3. In Merchant Center, check whether you have more than one data source, especially Content API plus items found by Google crawler, because that can make counts misleading.

4. If you use Markets, compare whether the missing products are available in the exact target market and shipping setup used by Merchant Center.

If you want others to help diagnose it safely, I would post only masked totals or 3-5 masked rows: synced vs not synced, product type, identifier fields, Google channel status, and target market. Avoid admin screenshots, account IDs, order data, customer data, or login access.

9

I’d agree with the comments suggesting this is more likely a filtering or eligibility issue than a sync issue, especially since reinstalling the app multiple times didn’t change the product count.

One thing I’d check is whether all products are actually available to the Google & YouTube sales channel and whether there are any missing attributes at the variant level. Also worth checking if there are multiple data sources feeding into Merchant Center, as that can sometimes create confusing product counts.

If the official Google and YouTube app continues to be unreliable, a dedicated feed management app may be worth considering since it usually gives you more visibility into why products are being excluded.

10

Hi @mprice3024, if the missing products are not reaching Merchant Center at all, I would first avoid changing the whole catalog and instead trace 5-10 specific missing products.

For each missing product, check:

  1. Is it active in Shopify?
  2. Is it available on the Google & YouTube sales channel, not just Online Store?
  3. Does it have inventory status that would exclude it?
  4. Does it appear under Merchant Center > Products > All products?
  5. Which data source is listed in GMC for similar products that did sync?

The key distinction is whether Shopify never submitted the products, or whether Google received them but excluded them from a particular destination. Those are different problems.

If the count is always stuck at exactly the same number after reinstalling, that usually points to an eligibility/filtering/source issue rather than a normal sync delay.

11

Jumping in on this older post, it might be worth checking if every product has the required GTIN, MPN, or brand attributes. Missing these can silently exclude items from syncing. If you’re still stuck, consider trying a third-party feed app like Multifeeds or Adnabu for better control and error insights. Anyone found success with these apps?

12

I’d test this with a controlled sample, not the whole catalog.

Pick 10 missing SKUs and 10 synced SKUs, then compare the same fields side by side: Google channel availability, variant inventory, brand/GTIN/MPN/custom product, shipping profile, market availability, and which data source GMC shows for the synced ones.

If the missing products never appear in GMC > Products > All products, Shopify/the app is not submitting them. If they appear there but not in free listings or Shopping ads, Google is receiving them and excluding them after ingestion.

Reinstalling the app usually won’t fix either case — you need to find the one rule all missing SKUs have in common.